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Flax | | Name : | Flax | | Botanical : | Linum usitatissimum | | Synonyms : | Chih-ma(Chinese name)
Commonflax
Flaxseed
Flaxweed
Linseed
Lintbells
Toadflax
Uma(Sanskrit name)
Winterlien
| | Family : | Linaceae | | Parts Used : | Seeds | | Habitat : | Widely cultivated in the United States (mostly the northwestern states),Canada, and Europe but also found wild along roadsides, railroad lines,old fields, and in waste places. Native to Europe. | | Description : | Flax (Linum usitatissimum) (LINN.) | | Constituents : | The envelope or testa of the seed contains about 15 per cent of mucilage. The seeds themselves contain in the cotyledons and endosperm from 30 to 40 per cent of a fixed oil, of a light yellow colour, and about 25 per cent proteids, together with wax, resin, sugar, phosphates, acetic acid, and a small quantity of the glucoside Linamarin. On incineration, linseed should not yield more than 5 per cent of ash.
The oil is obtained by expression, with little or no heat. The cake which remains after expressing the oil, and which contains the farinaceous and mucilaginous part of the seed, is familiarly known as oil-cake, and is largely used as a fattening food for cattle. It is also used as a manure. When ground up, it is known as linseed meal, which is employed for making poultices. The meal is sold in two forms, crushed linseed and linseed meal. Formerly linseed meal was always obtained by grinding English oil-cake to powder and contained little oil, but now the crushed seeds, containing all the oil, are official. Crushed linseed of good quality usually contains from 30 to 35 per cent of oil.
Linseed oil rapidly absorbs oxygen from the air and forms, when laid on in thin layers, a hard, transparent varnish. It is largely used in the arts for its properties as a drying oil. It is a viscid, yellow liquid, its chief constituent being Linolein. It also contains palmitin, stearin and myristin, with glyceride of linoleic acid. Boiled oil, produced by heating raw linseed oil to a temperature of 150 degrees C., together with a small proportion of a metallic drier, possesses the drying properties of linseed oil to an enhanced degree. It becomes of a brown colour and dries much more rapidly, and in this state is used in the manufacture of printer's ink. | | Uses : | Emollient, demulcent, pectoral. The crushed seeds or linseed meal make a very useful poultice, either alone or with mustard. In ulceration and superficial or deep-seated inflammation a linseed poultice allays irritation and pain and promotes suppuration. The addition of a little lobelia seed makes it of greater value in cases of boils. It is commonly used for abscesses and other local affections.
Linseed is largely employed as an addition to cough medicines. As a domestic remedy for colds, coughs and irritation of the urinary organs, linseed tea is most valuable. A little honey and lemon juice makes it very agreeable and more efficacious. This demulcent infusion contains a large quantity of mucilage, and is made from 1 OZ. of the ground or entire seeds to 1 pint of boiling water. It is taken in wineglassful doses, which may be repeated ad libitum.
Linseed oil, mixed with an equal quantity of lime water, known then as Carron Oil, is an excellent application for burns and scalds.
Internally, the oil is sometimes given as a laxative; in cases of gravel and stone it is excellent, and has been administered in pleurisy with great success. It may also be used as an injection in constipation. Mixed with honey, linseed oil has been used as a cosmetic for removing spots from the face.
The oil enters into veterinary pharmacy as a purgative for sheep and horses, and a jelly formed by boiling the seeds is often given to calves.
Linseed is often employed, with other seeds, as food for small birds.
Plantain seeds, also a favourite food of small birds, can, it is said, be used instead of linseed in making poultices, as they contain much mucilage, though not so much oil.
Linseed has occasionally been employed as human food - we hear of the seeds being mixed with corn by the ancient Greeks and Romans for making bread - but it affords little actual nourishment and is apparently unwholesome, being difficult of digestion and provoking flatulence.
The meal has sometimes been used fraudulently for adulterating pepper. | | Dosage : | Use only ripe seeds. Immature seed pods can cause poisoning.
Infusion: use 1 tsp. seed in 1 cup boiling water, let cooland take 1 or 2 mouthfuls 3 times a day.
Decoction: use 1 tbsp. seed with 1 qt. water. Boil until 1/2qt. liquid remains. Take in the course of a day.
Poultice: Cook seeds until they are soft (or use pulverizedseed). Put them immediately into a linen bag and apply as hot as canbe tolerated.
Seeds: For constipation, take 1-2 tbsp. whole seeds, washingthem down with lots of water. If necessary, follow with stewed prunes. | | Safety : | Flaxseeds may not be strong enough for severe constipation and mayfeed congestion in the colon. Seek professional medical advise ifseverely constipated or blood in the stool.
Linseed oil deteriorates rapidly, prepare fresh often. DO NOTtake artist's linseed oil internally.
Immature seed pods can cause poisoning.
Caution: large quantities of purging flax can cause fatalpoisoning.
Contains a cyanide-like compound. Oil may be emetic and purgative.
Overdoses cause respiratory distress and paralysis. | | Myths : | Only mankind eats the starch from the seed and throws away the materialsnecessary for the metabolism of that starch.
The mucilage of the flaxseed, obtained by boiling in water or winewas once used to give body to red wines.
Cotton and flax were among the earliest substances used for clothfabric, having been found throughout remains from ancient Egypt andin both the old and new worlds. (linen and linsey-woolsey) Cultivatedsince at least 5,000 BC. Egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen clothwoven from the stalks of the flax plant.
As early as the Mesolithic period, it was known to man for its usefulness.In that era, flax provided both oil and fiber for garments, as theremains of prehistoric lake dwellers in Switzerland indicate.
In 8th century France, Charlemagne passed laws requiring his subjectsto consume the seeds to keep the people healthy.
The cultivation of flax in Egypt can be traced back to the 14th centuryBC; flaxseed intended as provisions for the last journey was foundin Egyptian burial chambers. Hippocrates (around 500 BC) and Paracelsus(Theophrastus von Hohenheim 1493-1541) refer to flaxseed mucilageas a soothing cough remedy.
The flax herb is cultivated in China for its seeds and oil. | | Nutrient : | Vitamins A, B, D, E, minerals and amino acids | | Sold : | Linseed oil
Flax seeds |
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