Flax family offers endless consumer options
When you hear the word, linen. What comes to mind? Bedsheets. Expensive bedsheets. Egypt.
Or perhaps, durable, lightweight, sweat-wicking, summer clothes.
Whatever the word brings to the forefront of your mind, linen is a fabric made from flax fiber.
Flax is a plant in the family Linaceae, which is usually called ‘the flax family.’
Linaceae is made up of a few genera that occur in North America, including Hesperolinon, Sclerolinon, and the ultra-famous Linum, to which the flax we are most familiar with is classified under. Both of the other two genera are native to the Pacific Coast (aka the West Coast) states, according to Thomas Elpel’s book The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. Outside of our continent, there are 16 more genera of flax that include 180 other species.
No matter the genus, the plants in the flax family have very beautiful, distinctive flowers: Five-petaled works of art in varying colors like blue, purple, white, and red.
Linseed oil is derived from the seeds, and from the plants themselves come the fiber that’s used to make linen.
Something else the seeds are good for? Our tables.
Flaxseeds contain vitamin B1 and fiber, along with their most famous compound, ALA. According to Healthline, after chia seeds, flaxseed is the highest dietary source of alpha-linoleic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid. It's best to grind the seeds so our non-herbivorous stomachs can get the most out of them, and it's also best to cook flaxseed before eating it. Many baked snack recipes include flaxseed, like muffins.
North Dakota is again a star producer where flax is concerned; NASS reports show that in 2023, our state harvested 103,000 acres of flax. Our neighbor to the west, Montana, harvested 57,000 acres.
Together, we two states make up almost all of the flax produced in the US.
In fact, even back in 1916, that held true: A map in Brigham and MacFarlane's geography textbook Essentials of Geography displayed the flax-producing regions of the world. In 1916, North Dakota produced 47% of the US's flax, followed by Minnesota at 20%, Montana at 17%, and South Dakota at 11%. The rest of the 5% left looks to be in Nebraska or Kansas, both also prairie states.
Last year, North Dakota produced 64% of the flax grown in the US. Montana grew the rest. The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service showed no other state production in flaxseed.
But before you believe that flax just comes in one variety, the 2022 North Dakota Extension flax trials showcased the results from a staggering 15 varieties of flax, the oldest of which was developed in 1989, in our own state. Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark duo described a wild or naturalized flax species in the Rocky Mountains, back in 1905. The plant was later named for him: Linum lewisii.
It's one thing to be proud of our state's wonderfully diverse agricultural products, but the US definitely doesn't eat all the flaxseed we produce.
Most of it is cold-pressed for oil, and once it's out of the flaxseed, it's called linseed oil.
Linseed oil is used extensively in paints, printer inks, resins, and stains, and also to produce linoleum! True linoleum is made of just linseed oil and wood dust.
The fiber can be used to make clothes, and when mixed with wood pulp, to make paper.
Many industries are looking back at flax fibers and away from plastic materials, including the automotive industry. Flax fiber takes much less energy to produce than does fiberglass, and a 2008 publication by Oregon State University claims that flax fiber performs well in fiberglass-like applications and is incredibly lightweight.
The use of less plastic in building materials, wearables, and anywhere else we can is increasingly important as the appearance of microplastics everywhere they shouldn't be continues to tally up.
Flax produces both seeds (for oil to be used in paints, etc., or just for consumption) AND fiber for clothes, paper, car and tractor parts, among many other applications.
Flax really is an all-purpose kind of crop, and it also has the benefit of being easy on the eyes; flax flowers are beautiful!
Flax is also a good flower garden plant, said to happily reseed itself or act as a perennial even in drought, poor soil conditions, and heat.
Useful and beautiful; it just doesn't get any better than that.