White shrubby flax
Linum suffruticosum
Family · Linaceae · Harmless
The white flax of arid limestone, forming woody tufts of hard narrow leaves and opening white flowers with a pinkish or violet centre, always turned to the sun.
Uplands · Scrubland · Fields and pasture
Also known asshrubby white flax
How to tell it
A subshrub with a woody base and many slender upright stems. Narrow, stiff leaves with margins rolled under and rough to the touch. White five-petalled flowers, two to three centimetres, with a pink or lilac eye. The petals drop at the end of the day. Range: mainly a Spanish plant, practically absent from Portugal.
What it is confused with
Narbonne flax
Linum narbonense
Colour decides: Narbonne flax has intense blue flowers and soft leaves; this has white flowers with a pink eye and stiff leaves with rolled margins. Neither is toxic.
Open sheet →What it is for
No use. It is an excellent indicator of limestone soil, and grows beside rosemary and thyme on the same stony slopes.