Crambe

Crambe 

a genus of annual or perennial plants of the family Cruciferae. They are generally densely branched herbs with large succulent leaves. The flowers are usually white. The fruit is two-sectioned, with an infertile lower section and a fertile monospermous upper section. There are between 20 and 25 species in Eurasia and Africa. In the USSR there are between 18 and 20 species, distributed on steppes, semideserts, and arid mountain slopes and sometimes along seacoasts (Baltic Region, southern European USSR, the Caucasus, Middle Asia, and the southern part of Western Siberia). The best-known species is sea kale (C. marétima). The stalks of its vernal leaves are used as a vegetable, which is smilar to asparagus. Sometimes sea kale is cultivated. The young shoots of C. tatarica and the raw leaves of C. oriental is are also used for food. The species C. Kotschyana is a valuable fodder, nectar-bearing, and starch-yielding plant; it is suitable for cultivation. The seeds of C. abyssinica, which grows in the Abyssinian Highlands, contain up to 53 percent nutrient oil.