Technical Abstract: The effect of enzyme and/or chelator treatments on the retting process were assessed using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) microspectroscopy which allowed the imaging and mapping of the changes in the distribution of key chemical components during fiber release from flax stems. Cross-sections of Ariane flax were treated with a 0.05% Flaxzyme, (a commercial enzyme retting mixture), a 50mM oxalic acid solution, a mixture of both buffer (p 5) or in buffer alone for 6 hours at 40 deg C. Exposure to the buffer solution resulted in the removal of some of the pectate salts and acetylated (hemicellulosic) materials, though other components were unaffected. Treatment with the enzyme mixture was effective in attacking some parenchyma tissue between fiber bundles and in removing some pectins from in cambium region but not from the epidermal tissue. Treatment with oxalic acid caused the cuticular and epidermal tissue to be removed and the eloss of some of the associated pectins. Treatment with both enzyme and oxalic acid resulted in the additional removal of parenchyma tissue surrounding the fiber bundles, affording the greatest degree of retting, where some bundles were separated into ultimate fibers. However, most of the fibers appeared to be still primarily held together by pectate salts and to a lesser extent by pectic esters and/or acids and hemicellulosic polysaccharides. The infrared imaging allowed ascertaining which actual chemical species were present after each treatment in relation to the anatomical features present.