flax
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flax

Any of a group of plants including the cultivated L. usitatissimum; linen is produced from the fibre in its stems. The seeds yield linseed oil, used in paints and varnishes. The plant, of almost worldwide distribution, has a stem up to 60 cm/24 in high, small leaves, and bright blue flowers. (Genus Linum, family Linaceae.)

After extracting the oil, what is left of the seeds is fed to cattle. The stems are retted (soaked) in water after harvesting, and then dried, rolled, and scutched (pounded), separating the fibre from the central core of woody tissue. The long fibres are spun into linen thread, twice as strong as cotton, yet more delicate, and suitable for lace; shorter fibres are used to make string or paper.

Annual world production of flax fibre amounts to approximately 60,000 tonnes, with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Latvia accounting for half of the total. Other producers are Belgium, the Netherlands, and Northern Ireland.

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Alava Alföld Altai Asia Blairgowrie and Rattray Buenos Aires Castlebar Charente Chatham Islands Cher Chippewa County Concordia Cookstown Côtes d'Armor Courtrai crop Dnieper Dundee East Flanders			Linum usitatissimum, the common flax, is the starting point for both tea towels and linen cloth and, in the more expansive arable farming areas of Britain and Europe you will, once again, see large fields of blue flowers in mid-summer as the crop reaches its first stage of maturity. Where did that come from? Notebook Flax - Linum usitatissimum by Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England)			commedia erudita commedia per musica Commelin, John commemoration commensalism commentary Commerce Commerce City Commerce, Department of commercial bank commercial farming Commercial Internet eXchange Commewijne commissary commission Commission for Racial Equality Committee of Imperial Defence Committee of Public Safety commodity Commodus, Lucius Aelius Aurelius Common Agricultural Policy common chord common denominator common difference common factor Common Flax common gateway interface common land common law Common Life, Brothers and Sisters of the common logarithm Common Market Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa common noun common pleas, court of common sense common time Commoner, Barry Commons, House of Commons, John Rogers commonwealth Commonwealth conference Commonwealth Day Commonwealth Development Corporation Commonwealth Games Commonwealth history Commonwealth Immigration Acts Commonwealth Institute Commonwealth of Independent States Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organization Commonwealth, the			common feature common fee common fee common fee common fee common feldspar Common Femoral Artery Common Femoral Artery Blood Flow Common Femoral Vein Common Femoral Vein Catheter Common Fence Point Improvement Association common fennel Common fibular division Common fibular nerve Common fibular nerve Common Field-Level Memory Reprogramming Equipment common fig common fig tree Common Figwort Common File System Common File System Gateway Common Fill Device Common Fill Device Interface Common Firmware Environment Common Fisheries Policy Common fishery Common Flash Memory Interface common flat pea Common Flax common fleabanes common fleabanes common fleabanes Common Fleet Exercise Section common flicker common flicker common flicker common flicker common flickers common flickers common flickers common flickers Common Flying Dragon Common Flying Dragon Common Flying Dragon common folk Common Food Management System common forebears Common Foreign and Security Policy Common Foreign Function Interface Common Format for Transient Data Exchange Common Formats Common Forms of Collateral Common Forms of Secured Transactions Common Foundation Program common four-o'clock Common Fox Common Fox common foxglove common fraction

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flax (redirected from Common Flax)

flax

flax
(redirected from Common Flax)