Bristle Flax

Cathartolinum aristatum (Engelm.) Small
Liuum aristatum Engelm. in Wisliz. Tour Northern Mex. 101. 1S4S.
Plants 2-4 dm. tall, glaucescent. Stems usually sparingly branched at the base, the branches slender, striate or striate-angled, glabrous, sparingly corymbose-branched above, the branches of the inflorescence elongate, the cymes few-flowered ; leaves relatively few, erect or appressed, alternate, the blades thiekish, those of the lower leaves narrowly linearspatulate to narrowly linear and about 1 cm. long, those of the upper leaves long-subulate to filiform-subulate on account of the involute margins, all entire ; bracts slender-subulate, glandular-toothed ; outer sepals linear-lanceolate, becoming 9-10 mm. long, finely glandular-toothed below the attenuate apex, which terminates in a very slender spine ; inner sepals narrowly lanceolate, shorter than the outer ones, more finely toothed and more slender at the apex; petals yellow, 13-15 mm. long; filaments glabrous; capsules ovoid, about 3 mm. long.
Type locality : Near Carrizal, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Distribution : Western Texas, eastern New Mexico, and adjacent Mexico.