Talk:Flax (plant)

Harvesting vs Gathering vs Reaping
I never noticed before, but there seems to be some distinct difference between harvesting, gathering, and reaping flax and/or flax flowers. (Actually, I presume gathering and harvesting are the same here. If not, please explain.) Anyway, I am currently in Incarnum, training a new Enutrof. I am performing the Piwi Quest. I first learned the profession of Farming, and I went to gather/harvest 6 wheat resources. I then returned to the Inn, unlearned Farming, and then learned the Alchemy profession. However, I did not replace the farming scythe with the alchemy gloves. I then proceeded north to harvest some Flax Flowers. When I got to the location I wanted, I clicked on the growing flax, and the selection menu came up with two different options: Gather and Reap. I had never noticed this before, even with my high-level Alchemist. I can select the Reap menu option, but nothing seems to happen. The Gather menu option operates as expected. I have tried to find out what "reaping" flax means, but I have been unable to.

When I replace the scythe with the alchemist gloves, I can then select only Gather, as the Reap option is greyed out. If I replace the gloves with the Scythe, neither Gather nor Reap is available. If I go back to the gloves, Gather is available but not Reap. I then went back to the Inn, unlearned Alchemy (I had previously unlearned Farming, clearly), and relearned Farming. I harvested some Wheat, unlearned farming, relearned Alchemy, and returned to the fields of flax. I did not replace the Scythe---as before. Once more both Gather and Reap options were presented, and while Gather worked, Reap seemed once more to do nothing.

If this is simply a bug, so be it. But if a feature, would someone kindly add some descriptive text to the discussion on Flax Flowers? Thanks.