In the Community: What's In Bloom
Wild Blue Flax (Linum lewisii)
Up close, this wild plant closely resembles the cultivated flax that turns agricultural fields into shimmering blue lakes of petals during mid summer. The wild flax is a gangly plant with slim stems, linear grass-like leaves, and many-branched flower stems with a single blue flower (2 cm) at the end of each branch. The flowers, each of which lasts only a day, form a loose terminal cluster and bloom June-July. Individual flowers are quite distinct in their tendency to have five of everything: petals, sepals, and stamens. The seed heads, like their cultivated cousins', are round capsules that have four or five compartments each containing two seeds. With its deep woody root, Wild Blue Flax prefers dry prairie and has suffered like some of the other plants in the past when the RSM's native plant garden accidentally received artificial watering.
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