Plant · P-720

Crambe

Crambe hispanica

Crambe is a fast-growing spring annual in the mustard family, grown not for food but for the industrial oil packed into its seed - oil so rich in erucic acid that it goes into lubricants, nylon feedstock and plastics rather than a kitchen. What is left after pressing makes a strong livestock feed for cattle and sheep, standing in for soybean meal at almost any level, though it stays toxic to poultry even after processing. The one thing that catches growers out is timing the harvest: the seed pods shatter the moment they turn straw-coloured, so the crop has to come off within days or it reseeds itself on the ground instead of filling the bin.