Cultivated flax

Diederichsen, A., Richards, K., 2003. Cultivated flax and the genus Unum L. taxonomy and germ-plasm conservation. In Muir, A.D., Westcott, N.D. (Eds.), Flax The Genus Unum. Taylor and Francis Ltd, New York, NY, pp. 22-54. 

Diederichsen, A., Hammer, K., 1995. Variation of cultivated flax (Unum usitatissimum L. subsp. usitatissimum) and its wild progenitor pale flax (subsp. angustifolium (Huds) Thell). Genet. Resour. Crop Evol. 42, 263-272. 

The flax fiber from the aimual plant IJnum usitatissimum (flax family, Liuaceae) has been used siuce ancient times as the fiber for linen. The plant grows iu temperate, moderately moist climates, for example, iu Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, and Russia. The plant is also cultivated for its seed, from which linseed oil is produced. A by-product of the seed plant is the tow fiber used iu papermakiug. 

The cultivation of flaxseed reaches back to the remotest periods of history. Both the seeds as well as the cloth woven from this plant fabric have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs. In fact, the first linen mentioned in the Bible has been proven by historians and archaeologists to have been spun from flax. Later on, Hippocrates stated that flaxseed was used for the relief of abdominal pains in some of his writings. For 8000 years flaxseed has been used as a source for sustaining energy. 

Vaisey-Genser, M. and Morris, D. 2003. Introduction History of the cultivation and uses of flaxseed. In Flax The Genus Linum (A. Muir and N. Westcott, eds), pp. 1-21. Taylor and Francis, Ltd, London, England. 

Flax, widely adapted to warm and cool climates, has been cultivated for centuries in various parts of the world for its stem fiber, linen cloth, and seed. Linseed is an alternative name used for flax. Crops grown for seed are termed linseed in India and in the United Kingdom and flaxseed in Canada and the United States, and flax oil or flax seed is used in many European countries. 

The new oilseed crop is grown wherever flax and linseed varieties are currently cultivated (35, 36). The climate in northern Europe is highly suitable for production of Linola, where sunflower and com/maize cannot be produced. Linola seed can be processed by existing crushing plants using similar processing parameters. Linola meal is used for ruminant feed in the same way as linseed meal. 

The best known and most abundantly used multicellular fibre is flax or linen. Fabrics made from flax fibres have been used since prehistoric times. The plant still grows naturally in swampy regions between the eastern shores of the Black Sea and the Caucasus. Its cultivation may have originated from this region, but the surmise is not supported by any conclusive evidence. Flax was used in Egypt in about 2500 B.c., and the failure of the flax crop is specifically mentioned as one of the plagues in the Book of Moses. The ships of the Phoenicians and Greeks were borne across the seas by sails made of linen. 

Flax is extracted from the fibrous bark of a plant belonging to the natural order Linaceae, and the species is Linum usitatissimum. It is cultivated... 

LINSEED (Flax), Lint semen is harvested from Linum usitatissimum L., family Linaceae. The plant has been cultivated for centuries in Europe for textile purposes. In the epidermis of the seed coat there is 3-6% mucilage consisting of galacturonic acid, galactose, rhamnose, and arabinose, mannuronic acid. Linseed is cheap and simple to use as a laxative 1 spoon of linseed is allowed to swell overnight in a cup of water, and next morning the contents of the cup are swallowed. Its value has been demonstrated in two studies of patients with constipation. 

Weaving plant fibers is a relatively recent development in human history, apparently for technological reasons. Before our ancestors learned to spin or weave, they discovered which plants contained useful fibers and how these fibers could be extracted. According to archaeological evidence, one of the earliest plants used for fiber was flax (Linum usitatissimum). It was woven into linen at least 8000 years ago. The cultivation and uses of flax were beautifully illustrated on the walls of Egyptian tombs (Figure 7B). 

Seed fibres from cotton and stem fibres from flax were probably the first to be commonly woven into textiles. Linen (from flax) was the every-day fabric of ancient Egypt, and the plant was the first cultivated source of textile fibres in Europe. While cotton only became popular in Europe a few centuries ago, its... 

The seeds of the common flax, lAnum usitatissimum. Cultivated in Britain. 

The starting point in the textile supply chain is the raw material preparation. Textile fibres are obtained from two main sources natural (cellulose or animal) fibres or synthetic fibres. Natural cellulosic fibres include conventional and organic cottons, rayon, linen, hemp, jute, ramie and sisal. Cotton is used to produce 40% of world textile products (Saicheua et al., 2012). The major environmental concern in cellulosic fibre production, especially for cotton fibre, is the chemical fertilizers and pesticides used during cultivation. The second concern is the high level of water consumption (Dave and Aspegren, 2010 Muthu, 2014). Cotton is one of the most popular natural fibres used in the world. Three percent of the world s cultivated land is used for cotton production and 16% of the world s insecticides are used on this crop alone (Saicheua et al., 2012 Muthu, 2014). Moreover, the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, machinery and electricity causes some human health and environmental problems. Also cotton growing requires 7—29 tonnes of water per kg of raw cotton fibres (KaUiala and Nousiainen, 1999). Other types of cellulosic fibres are hemp and flax, which can be considered to be the most significant sustainable fibres in the non cotton natural fibre sector (Werf, 2004 Muthu, 2014). 

Flax is a versatile, blue-flowered crop. It is most likely one of the oldest cultivated plants, grown either for the oil extracted from the seed or for fibre from the stem (Figure 9.1.30). There is well-documented evidence of the use of flax fibres for textiles going back to prehistoric times (see Chapter 9.6). However, in contrast to olive oil, no precise indication of the traditional use of linseed and linseed oil for nutrition or other applications may be found. Indeed, the first reliable source for utilization of linseed oil, namely for paintings, dates back to the eleventh century, when the German monk Theophilus in his Schedula diversarum artium - De diversibus artibus described the use of linseed oil for oil paints and amber varnishes. ... 

The fibres are only part of the total plant culture they represent 4-5% of hemp, or 35-40% of flax plant, and 33-40% of cotton seeds (Figure 9.6.11). The rest of the plant is also used for various other purposes, more particularly fodder and oil (see Chapter 9.1). The fibre output per hectare of cultivated land differs also from one plant to another cotton reaches 1000 kg fibres hahemp may yield 1800 kg fibres ha and flax up to 2000 kg fibres ha ... 

Hemp is produced in about the same regions as flax, as well as in Northern Italy. The plants are 3-15 ft. high. Hemp cultivation is falling rapidly, since hemp for linens is being replaced by jute, and for cables by sisal, manila, or nylon. In the Orient, hashish is obtained from hemp oil. 

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