Wildflower (forb) · Linaceae
Lewis flax
Linum lewisii · includes its varieties and subspecies
Lewis flax is recorded as native to 19 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 318 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Lewis flax at a glance
- Native in
- 318 counties, across 19 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −36°F
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −36°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Lewis flax is recorded as native to 19 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 318 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 318 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alaska 9 counties
- Arizona 9 counties
- California 34 counties
- Colorado 39 counties
- Idaho 27 counties
- Kansas 2 counties
- Minnesota 6 counties
- Montana 16 counties
- Nebraska 3 counties
- Nevada 15 counties
- New Mexico 19 counties
- North Dakota 34 counties
- Oklahoma 2 counties
- Oregon 20 counties
- South Dakota 7 counties
- Texas 10 counties
- Utah 29 counties
- Washington 16 counties
- Wyoming 21 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 2.5 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 10 to 20 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.6 to 8.4
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −36°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 95
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Blue
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Indeterminate
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Linaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LILE3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Linum lewisii (PLANTS symbol LILE3), including 1 variety or subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources