Semi-desert, foothills. Openings, meadows. Spring, summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 13, 2007.

This very dainty flax is easily overlooked because its leaves are so narrow and grass-like and because its copper-yellow flowers blend so with the soil.  Once you have spotted one plant be sure to look around for many more within a radius of ten or twenty feet.  Compare this minute flax with the much more robust and very showy Blue Flax, Adenolinum lewisii.

The Greek "meso" and "syn" mean "middle" "united" and refer to the united styles.  The Latin "puber" means downy and refers to the minutely hairy character of the plant.

Augustus Fendler collected the first species of this plant for science near Santa Fe in 1846 and Engelmann named it Linum rigidum variety puberulum in 1852. Heller renamed it Linum puberulum in 1897 and Weber named it Mesynium puberulum in 1984.  Linnaeus named the Linum genus in 1753.

Semi-desert, foothills. Openings, meadows. Spring, summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 13, 2007.