Flax linseed oil, a product used as a nutritional supplement and as an ingredient in many wood-finishing products. Flax is also grown as an ornamental plant in gardens. Moreover, flax fibers are used to make linen. The Latin name of the species, "usitatissimum," means "most useful". Flax fibers taken from the stem of the plant are two to three times as strong as cotton fibers. Additionally, flax fibers are naturally smooth and straight. Europe and North America both depended on flax for plant-based cloth until the 19th century, when cotton overtook flax as the most common plant for making rag-based paper.
Textile manufacturing by pre-industrial methods China and Japan, for instance at the Chinese Printed Blue Nankeen Exhibition Hall (Blue Cloth Museum) in Shanghai. The preparations for spinning is similar across most plant fibres, including Flax and Hemp. Flax is the fibre used to create linen. Cotton is handled differently since it uses the fruit of the plant and not the stem. Flax is pulled out of the ground about a month after the initial blooming when the lower part of the plant begins to turn yellow, and when the most forward of the seeds are found in a soft state. It is pulled in handfuls