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
Flax not be useful, and the fiber will be underdeveloped. The fiber degrades once the plants turn brown. Flax grown for seed is allowed to mature until the seed capsules are yellow and just starting to split; it is then harvested in various ways. A combine harvester may either cut only the heads of the plants, or the whole plant. These are then dried to extract the seed. The amount of weeds in the straw affects its marketability, and this, coupled with market prices, determines whether the farmer chooses to harvest the flax straw. If the flax straw is not harvested,