Hi everyone, I have some sort of flax growing in my wildflower garden - it's been there for years and I think it was carried in by birds. I'd like to know if there is a way to differentiate between linum perenne and linum usitatissimum. I know that L. perenne is a perennial and L. usitatissiumum is an annual, but as I have always left it to seed itself, I'm not sure if what I have is annual or perennial. I have searched the internet and am unable to tell the difference. Does anyone know if one has a different number of petals or different shaped leaves or anything? All the pictures I've found all look the same! The reason I want to know is because I'm a spinner and want to ret and spin the fibre, for which I need L. usitatissimum. Any help would be MUCH appreciated! Thank you so much, Sylvia
The flowers are similar, but as you've noted, the main difference is that Linum usitatissimum is an annual. It will set conspicuous seedheads then yellow and dry quite soon after the flowers have finished. Linum perenne will stay green much longer and continue to produce occasional flowers rather than have all of its bloom in one burst. At least, that's how they behave here, but ours is a milder climate. Linum usitatissimum has a strong golden hue when drying off, as shown in this photo of a commercial crop: http://www.botanicalstockphotos.com/img18879.htm .
There are few other features that you can check: http://www.larkspurbooks.com/linac.html http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/wb_flax.htm