THE LINACEAE IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES KENNETH R. ROBERTSON LINACEAE S. F. Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. P1. 2: 639. 1821, "Lineae" [A. P. de Candolle, Theorie ]lem. Bot. 214. 1813, "Linees"], nom. cons (FLAX FAMILY) Herbs [shrubs, trees or woody climbers] with simple and mostly alter-nate (rarely all opposite or whorled) leaves; stipules present or absent.Inflorescences various, cymose, racemose, corymbose, or paniculate Irarelysolitary]. Flowers perfect, regular, 5[4]-merous; sepals and petals freeor slightly connate at the base, the sepals quincuncially imbricate, thepetals contorted in aestivation and often clawed; disc absent; stamensequal in number to the petals and alternate with them or twice as nu-merous and in two whorls, filaments connate at the base with nectar glandsusually on the outside of the tube, staminodia sometimes present; ovar'superior, syncarpous, 5 [2-4 -carpellate, sometimes partially or completelysubdivided into 10 14-8] locules by the intrusion of false septa. ovules2 per carpel, epitropous; styles as many as the carpels, mostly free orsometimes partly to completely united; stigmas distinct capitate tofiliform. Fruit a septicidal capsule [or drupe]; seeds often with a muci-laginous epidermis, embryo straight [or slightly curved]. (Linaceae sensuHutchinson, 1967; Linoideae of Winkler, excluding Nectaropetaleae, andof Scholz.) TYPE GENUS: Linum L. About 13 genera and 275-350 species of worldwide distribution, butwith relatively few species in the Southern emisphere. Four genera arerepresented in North America: Linum, with about 41 (including 4 or 5 ' Prepared for a generic flora of the southeastern United States, a joint project ofthe Arnold Arboretum and the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University mdG posiblethrough the support of the National Science Foundation (Grant GB-649X, pri nipalinvestigator, Carroll E. Wood, Jr.). This treatment follows the format establishedin the first paper in the series (Jour. Arnold Arb. 39: 296-346. 1958). The ara coveredincludes North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Misippi,Arkansas, and Louisiana. The descriptions are based primarily on the plants in thisarea, with additional information in brackets. I am veri grateful to several individuals for their assistance in the preparation of the manuscript: r. Wood for his mot helpful suggestions and careful iin Dr. Bernice G. Schubert for thoroughly reading the manuscript, Dr. C. M. Rogers (Wayne State University) for his review and thoughtful comments, and Mrs. Nanc, Dunkly for checking the bibliographies and for her accurate typing. The illustration was drawn by Karen Stoutsenberger largely from peeed material collected by Dr. Wood.
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