 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Flax is grown in wide areas of temperate and sub-tropical regions of both hemispheres. Flax fibre is obtained from the stems of the LINUM USITATISSIMUM plant, belonging to the LINACÆ family. The use of flax for weaving into "linen" cloth dates back to Egyptian dynasties over four thousand years ago and from the latter part of the Middle Ages it became the most commonly used textile material in Europe. It was not until the early part of the nineteenth century that cotton began to challenge this premier position. Today flax production for commercial textile purposes (it is also grown widely for its oil-yielding seed, especially in North America) is primarily in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Belo-Rus, Egypt and China. Estimated crop for the three main producers (France, Belgium and the Netherlands) for 2006 was 105,000 tonnes of long flax and 57,000 tonnes of short flax from a combined hectarage of 96,200.
|
|||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
