Annual herb up to 60 cm tall. Stem erect, branched, glabrous. Leaves alternate, 1.5-2.5 cm long, broadly lanceolate, 3-nerved, entire, sessile. Flowers red, regular, dimorphic in cymose clusters; pedicel 4-5 mm long, elongating in fruit. Sepals free, c. 7 mm long, enlarging in fruit, ovate, acuminate, serrate, peristent. Petals free, obovate, up to 2 cm long. Stamens 5, connate at the base, filaments 6-8 mm long, dilated at the base; anthers c. 3 mm long. Ovary ovoid, c. 2 mm long, styles 5, filiform, connate at the base; stigma linear, 2 mm long. Capsule sub-globose, 7-8 mm long; seeds 4 mm long, brown, compressed.

Fl. Per. March-April.

Type locality: “Habitat in arvis argillosis prope Mascar”.

Distribution: Temperate and warm regions throughout the world.

“Flowering Flax” is cultivated in gardens for its beautiful scarlet or red flowers.