Flax

Flax

[Linum usitatissimum]

Family
Linum (more than 100 species)

Height
40-100 cm

Location and climate
Best in a sunny location where the nights are cool (Northern Europe and North America is optimal)

Pollination
Bees; honeybee and bumblebee.

Usage
Flax is cultivated as both food and fiber crop. Textile for clothing and bed linen. Linseed oil as a wood finishing product. Eatable flax oil is very high on Omega3.

The demand and interest in flax textile /linen is growing and the flax industry is big especially in France and Belgium. Flax, hemp and kenaf have many of the same qualities being long, strong and durable fibers without the need of pesticides.

Flax is a very old plant and the use of linen has been dated 30.000 years back. Linen was also cultivated and used in ancient Egypt.

The flax plant has the most beautiful blue flowers and each flower blooms for only one day. A flax plant is never cut when harvested but is rooted because the flax fiber is found in both the stem and the roots. From here the retting process begins using moisture to break down the pectines where the flax plant is left on the field and exposed to rain, dew and sunshine. When the flax is retted and dried, scutching and hackling can begin followed by the spinning process. Water retting (in a pond or similar still water) is another way to break down the pectines in the stem and the two different retting processes gives a different outcome in color.

Flax clothing is very comfortable to wear when the weather is hot.