Crambe is a genus of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to a variety of habitats in Europe, Turkey, southwest and central Asia and eastern Africa. They carry dense racemes of tiny white or yellow flowers on (mostly leafless) stems above the basal leaves. Crambe hispanica subsp. abyssinica, formerly known as Crambe abyssinica, is grown for the oil from the seeds that has characteristics similar to whale oil.
The word "crambe" derives, via the Latin crambe, from the Greek κράμβη, a kind of cabbage.
Crambe species are used as food plants by the larvae of the weevil Lixus canescens (Coleoptera) and some Lepidoptera species including the lime-speck pug.
Species
Currently accepted species include:
- Crambe alutacea <small>Hand.-Mazz.</small>
- Crambe arborea <small>Webb ex Christ</small>
- Crambe armena <small>N.Busch</small>
- Crambe cordifolia <small>Steven</small>
- Crambe edentula <small>Fisch. & C.A.Mey. ex Korsh.</small>
- Crambe feuilleei <small>A.Santos ex Prina & Mart.-Laborde</small>
- Crambe filiformis <small>Jacq.</small>
- Crambe fruticosa <small>L.f.</small>
- Crambe gigantea <small>(Ceballos & Ortuño) Bramwell</small>
- Crambe gomeraea <small>Webb ex Christ</small>
- Crambe gordjagini <small>Sprygin & Popov</small>
- Crambe grandiflora <small>DC.</small>
- Crambe grossheimii <small>I.I.Khalilov</small>
- Crambe hedgei <small>I.I.Khalilov</small>
- Crambe hispanica <small>L.</small>
- Crambe juncea <small>M.Bieb.</small>
- Crambe kilimandscharica <small>O.E.Schulz</small>
- Crambe koktebelica <small>(Junge) N.Busch</small>
- Crambe kralikii <small>Coss.</small>
- Crambe laevigata <small>DC. ex Christ</small>
- Crambe maritima <small>L.</small>
- Crambe microcarpa <small>A.Santos</small>
- Crambe orientalis <small>L.</small>
- Crambe pinnatifida <small>W.T.Aiton</small>
- Crambe pritzelii <small>Bolle</small>
- Crambe scaberrima <small>Webb ex Bramwell</small>
- Crambe schugnana <small>Korsh.</small>
- Crambe scoparia <small>Svent.</small>
- Crambe sinuatodentata <small>Hochst. & G.W.Schimp.</small>
- Crambe steveniana <small>Rupr.</small>
- Crambe strigosa <small>L'Hér.</small>
- Crambe sventenii <small>Pett. ex Bramwell & Sunding</small>
- Crambe tamadabensis <small>Prina & Marrero Rodr.</small>
- Crambe tataria <small>Sebeók</small>
- Crambe × tchalenkoae <small>Popovich & Zernov</small>
- Crambe wildpretii <small>Prina & Bramwell</small>