Linum - North American species

[McDonough]

Cruising around the web, I came across a magnificent specimen of Linum kingii in the Wasatch Mountains, taken by John Perkins, a native Massachusetts gardener and Rhododendron expert.  In "fair use" to have one photo to liven up this page, I post John Perkin's excellent photo (thanks John!).  To see the rest of John's PicasaWeb photo gallery, click the 2nd link below.




Linum kingii in the Wasatch Mountains, Utah, showy specimen:
http://picasaweb.google.com/John.A.Perkins/WasatchMountains#5030062646895483522
...John Perkins' Picasaweb photo gallery on plants of the Wasatch Mts, Utah:
https://picasaweb.google.com/John.A.Perkins/WasatchMountains#

Linum kingii, very nice looking plants, again in the Wasatch Mts, Utah
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanto/3809802267/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanto/3810616318/in/photostream/

I've been aware of this species for some time, but known only from photos that depict scrawny little plants with pale yellow thin-textured flowers, not too exciting.  On the USDA plant profile pages below, I notice two varieties are put into synonymy with the species, var. pinetorum and var. sedoides.  When I look at various photos, it almost seems like I'm look at completely different species; could it be that the taxonomists acted rashly in voiding the varieties?  Some forms look like superb candidates for the rock garden.


USDA Plant Profile page & distribution map
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LIKI2
...photo, tiny twiggy looking plant, pale yellow
http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=liki2_002_ahp.tif

Linum kingii var. sedoides, Rocky Mountain Rare Plants
http://www.rmrp.com/Photo%20Pages/LL/Linum%20kingii%20v%20sedoides%20100DPI.htm

Linum kingii on CalPhotos
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Linum+kingii

L. kingii, and others:
http://www.wildgingerfarm.com/Linum.htm

L. kingii, lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, not so attractive:
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LIKI2
http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=174

Linum rigidum, an annual species with yellow-orange flowers:
http://www.alplains.com/images/LinumRigidum.jpg

[Hoy]

Mark, I do not know if I will thank you for this presentation! 
 I was aware of this genus however, but now that you have reminded me of them my lust to grow them escalates! (Where do I plant them   )

[Kelaidis]

I have often seen Linum kingii in the Utah plateau country (sneaking a bit even into Colorado and Idaho) and in Nevada: it grows incredibly abundantly wherever you find it, although clumps like the one in the picture you printed are not too common. We used to collect it during our Rocky Mountain Rare Plant years (the nineties) and distributed lots of seed. I grew a few plants that never did too much: I think they need lots of lime, rocky scree and probably troughs where they can dry out a bit between watering.

Aside from the ubiquitous and flashy blues of the Linum lewisii persuasion (there have been miniature forms cultivated by various rock gardeners I know from time to time) the yellow ones have greater variability, although many are annuals.

Our linums can't begin to compare in vibrancy, variety or garden use to the Eurasian ones, however: that's where the riches lie!

[McDonough]

I have often seen Linum kingii in the Utah plateau country (sneaking a bit even into Colorado and Idaho) and in Nevada: it grows incredibly abundantly wherever you find it, although clumps like the one in the picture you printed are not too common.

Our linums can't begin to compare in vibrancy, variety or garden use to the Eurasian ones, however: that's where the riches lie!

True enough, I'm a big fan of the Eurasian linums. I found it most interesting in the case of Linum kingii, an American species that typically doesn't merit much attention, to discover that the Wasatch Mountains forms are superb and deserving to be in cultivation.  I'll ask John where specifically they were found. 



Again in fair use, here's another view of a rocky slope in amazing bloom, from John Perkins' Picasaweb photo gallery... a nice feature on Picasaweb is you can enlarge to photo, and there is a sliding scale interface on the lower right of the image... zooming in on this view revealed that all of the yellow color on this mountainside is Linum kingii, it beautiful complement to the red Castilleja species.
http://picasaweb.google.com/John.A.Perkins/WasatchMountains#5030062810104240818

[RickR]

That pic is jarring to me.  The peak in the background appears to be limestone, while the one in the foreground is not (?)

It must make for a lot of diversity in a small area...

[Hoy]

Our linums can't begin to compare in vibrancy, variety or garden use to the Eurasian ones, however: that's where the riches lie!

Your linums can compare and compete with any Linum I have in my garden these days

[Lori S.]

Linum kingii is superb!