When I look at the plants and flowers growing in my Physic garden it’s hard to believe some of these self-same blooms have been helping people since ancient times. One such plant that I am trying to nurture up here on top of the high North Pennines is this pretty little blue flower called Flax ( Linum usitatissimum) or Linen (when manufactured into cloth). The pressed oil is sometimes known as Linseed and the Latin translation of the word usitatissimum is ‘most useful’.
All these different names are confusing and relate to the plant after processing of some kind so I will stick with Flax as this is the plant name. Present day cultivated flax is most closely related to the wild L. angustafolium which is still found throughout the Mediterranean Basin, North Africa, the Near East, Iran, Caucasia and Western Europe. There are other species of the Linum L. genus throughout the Mediterranean and China. So you can see that distribution is wide.
Flax was one of the earliest domesticated plants. It is an annual growing to around 3 ft tall with slender, straplike stems. The flowers are a pure pale blue like those of the Harebell (Scottish Bluebell) with five petals. The fruit contains several glossy brown seeds like an apple pip. Unfortunately the flower is short-lived with it’s petals falling as soon as bright sunlight hits them however there is an abundance of more to come.
Flax is amongst the oldest fibre crops in the world and use of flax for the production of cloth dates back to ancient Egyptian times. Dyed flax fibres found in a cave in Dzudzuana (prehistoric Georgia) have been dated to 30,000 years ago. There are pictures on tombs and temple walls at Thebes depicting flax plants in flower. Both the Greeks and Romans used this plant as a food, fibre and medicine with writings of that time (both ancient Greek and Roman) dating back to the 6th century B.C. mention flax cultivation. The literary works of Homer, Herodotus, Theophrastus and Pliny provide word references to flax and/or linen.
Gauls (the ancient tribes of France and Belgium) and Celts were the earliest flax growers in Western Europe, learning about flax from the Romans. In North America flax was introduced by the Puritans and quickly became a major cash crop. Flax is the emblem of Northern Ireland and it appears on the reverse of the British £1 coin to represent Northern Ireland on coins minted in 1986 and 1991.
Flax seed still has as many uses today – for food, fibres, medication and skincare. The oil is extremely rich in the Omegas 3 and 6 (essential fatty acids) vital for good skin health. It has anti-inflammatory properties and is one of the Fruit oils which benefits acne as the fatty acids present in flax seed help to prevent, not only the clogging of the pores, but thins the sebum which causes this build up.
Flax seed oil is useful for healing scars and abrasions and is used in the treatment of inflamed skin or skin disorders such as psoriasis and eczema. Flax seed oil is also useful for dry skin.
