about 200, see text Linum (flax) is a genus of approximately 200 species[1][2] in the flowering plant family Linaceae.

The genus includes the common flax (L. usitatissimum), the bast fibre of which is used to produce linen and the seeds to produce linseed oil.

The flowers of most species are blue or yellow, rarely red, white, or pink, and some are heterostylous.

Linum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including the cabbage moth, the nutmeg, the setaceous Hebrew character and Coleophora striolatella, which feeds exclusively on Linum narbonense.

In Eurasia, since Roman times, the genus Linum has been cultivated not only for its plant fiber, but also its seeds and tender leaves for culinary usage.