15 Facts About Flax

Flax, known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, Linum usitatissimum, in the family Linaceae.

Flax was cultivated extensively in ancient Egypt, where the temple walls had paintings of flowering flax, and mummies were embalmed using linen.

Flax is grown for its seeds, which can be ground into a meal or turned into linseed oil, a product used as a nutritional supplement and as an ingredient in many wood-finishing products.

Flax fibers taken from the stem of the plant are two to three times as strong as cotton fibers.

Flax is grown on the Canadian prairies for linseed oil, which is used as a drying oil in paints and varnishes and in products such as linoleum and printing inks.

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Flax seeds produce a vegetable oil known as flax seed oil or linseed oil, which is one of the oldest commercial oils.

Flax fiber is extracted from the bast beneath the surface of the stem of the flax plant.

Flax fiber is a raw material used in the high-quality paper industry for the use of printed banknotes, laboratory paper, rolling paper for cigarettes, and tea bags.

Flax seeds are especially rich in thiamine, magnesium, and phosphorus .

Flax is often found growing just above the waterline in cranberry bogs.

Flax is harvested for fiber production after about 100 days, or a month after the plants flower and two weeks after the seed capsules form.

Flax grown for seed is allowed to mature until the seed capsules are yellow and just starting to split; it is then harvested in various ways.

Flax processing is divided into two parts: the first part is generally done by the farmer, to bring the flax fiber into a fit state for general or common purposes.

Flax is an emblem of Northern Ireland and displayed by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Flax represents Northern Ireland on the badge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and on various logos associated with it.