Linum puberulum

{{Short description|Plant species in the flax family}} {{Speciesbox | image = 2015.04.25 12.43.11 IMG 1576 - Flickr - andrey zharkikh.jpg | status = {{TNCStatus}} | status_system = TNC | status_ref = <ref name="NatureServe">{{Cite NatureServe |date=3 January 2025 |id=2.151852 |title=''Linum puberulum'' |access-date=24 January 2025}}</ref> | genus = Linum | species = puberulum | authority = (Engelm.) A.Heller | synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |id=544653-1 |title=''Linum puberulum'' (Engelm.) A.Heller |access-date=24 January 2025}}</ref> | synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list | Cathartolinum puberulum | (Engelm.) Small | Cathartolinum vestitum | Wooton & Standl. | Linum rigidum var. puberulum | Engelm. | Mesynium puberulum | (Engelm.) W.A.Weber }} }} }}

'''''Linum puberulum''''' is a species of flax known by the common name '''plains flax'''. It is native to the western and midwestern United States from California to Nebraska to Texas, where it grows in dry, open habitat including desert, semi-desert, hills and low mountains. It is a downy-haired perennial herb producing an erect, branching stem lined with glandular linear leaves up to about 1 centimeter long. The inflorescence is a wide open cyme of golden yellow to yellow-orange flowers each with five petals 1 to 1.5 centimeters in length. The fruit is a capsule about 4 millimeters wide.

==Uses==

The Zuni people squeeze the berry juice into the eye for inflammation.<ref>Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p. 56)</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?4965,4980,4986 Jepson Manual Treatment] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080724082252/http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Yellow%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/mesynium%20puberulum.htm Southwest Colorado Wildflowers] *[http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Linum+puberulum Photo gallery]

puberulum Category:Flora of the United States Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine