Flax Flax is grown on the Canadian prairies for linseed oil, which is used as a drying oil in paints and varnishes and in products such as linoleum and printing inks. Linseed meal, the byproduct of producing linseed oil from flax seeds, is used to feed livestock. It is a protein-rich feed for ruminants, rabbits, and fish. Flaxseeds occur in two basic varieties/colors: brown and yellow (golden linseeds). Most types of these basic varieties have similar nutritional characteristics and equal numbers of short-chain omega-3 fatty acids. The exception is a type of yellow flax called solin (trade name "Linola"), which has
Vavilovian mimicry that lives with flax". Weeding of the adult plant is impractical; instead they are separated based on properties of the seed. This is done by a winnowing machine, which in this case acts as an inanimate signal receiver. Seeds that are thrown the same distance as flax seeds have thus been selected for, making it near impossible to separate the seeds of these two species. Another example is rye ("Secale cereale"), a grass which is derived from wild rye ("Secale montanum"), a widely distributed Mediterranean species. Rye was originally just a weed growing with wheat and barley, but came under