| DESCRIPTION: A herb, stems commonly erect or ascending reaching 10-30 cm in height. USES: The seeds provide a high-quality fatty oil with the unique ability to cling to metal surfaces of gears and bearings while withstanding wide temperature variations and high pressure. This oil has potential as a substitute for sperm whale oil and for use in quality waxes, lubricants, detergents, and plasticizers. The expressed, defatted seed can be fed to goats, chickens, and sheep. GROWING PERIOD: Annual, normally sown in autumn and harvested in early summer. COMMON NAMES: White meadowfoam, Meadowfoam. FURTHER INF.: White meadowfoam is native of the Pacific coast in the United States. Commonly found on banks, gravelly bars of small intermittent streams in Sierra Nevada foothills, growing on porous, quick-drying soils, essentially a xerophyte, flowering and setting seed on the last seasonal soil and stem moisture. Has about the same water requirement as dry-farmed winter grains, and seems to require less moisture than other species of this genus. Seed yields may be about 1.137-1.177 kg/ha. |
