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Limnanthes alba
Also called Meadowfoam
White meadowfoam is a low annual wildflower of wet grassland, vernal pools and moist woodland edges in Oregon and California, also grown commercially for its seed oil. It grows best in cool, moist, poorly drained conditions and is prone to Botrytis fungus.
Limnanthes alba is a species of flowering plant in the meadowfoam family known by the common name white meadowfoam. It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows in wet grassy habitat, such as vernal pools and moist spots in woodlands. It generally grows in poorly drained soils. It is an annual herb producing an erect or decumbent stem up to about 30 centimeters long. The leaves divided into several lobed or unlobed leaflets. The flower is cup-shaped with white petals 1 to 1.5 centimeters long.
This grassland wildflower is also under small-scale cultivation. It is the source of meadowfoam seed oil. The oil is one of the most stable vegetable oils known and can be converted to waxes and lubricants, similar to whale oil. White meadowfoam is very susceptible to the Botrytis cinerea fungus; commercial crops were devastated during the 1982 and 1984 growing seasons.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Limnanthes alba by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
