Evening primrose, tuberose, mountain sesame, wild sesame

Scientific name: Oenothera biennis

Common names: tuberose, mountain sesame, wild sesame

Type: perennial herbaceous plant

Origin:

Native to North America, introduced to Europe and then spread throughout the world.

Family and genus: Onagraceae, genus Oenothera

Growth characteristics:

Evening primrose is cold-tolerant, drought-tolerant, tolerant of poor soil, light-loving, and intolerant of waterlogging; bolting and flowering require a certain low-temperature stimulus.

Morphological characteristics:

Biennial plants are 100-140 cm tall; annual plants are 60-90 cm tall. Basal leaves grow in a rosette, stem leaves are alternate, the lower leaves are narrowly lanceolate, and the upper leaves are short and small. The stem is upright and branched. Before bolting, the root is fleshy, white and enlarged; after bolting, the main root becomes woody. The flowers are yellow, with a flower diameter of 4-5 cm. The petals are obcordate. The flowering period is June-October, and the fruit ripening period is August-November.

Propagation method:

It can be direct-sown or raised as seedlings and then transplanted. For direct sowing, the seeds must first be treated at low temperature, then sown, with a sowing rate of 0.2 g/sq m, and covered with about 0.5 cm of soil after sowing. Evening

Uses:

Primrose flowers open at night and have a pleasant fragrance, making them suitable for embellishing night scenes, and they can be used together with other landscaping materials for gardens, courtyards, flower beds and roadside greening.

Other varieties:

There are about 100 species in the same genus, and commonly cultivated ones include: O. drummondii; O. odorata; O. speciosa, etc.

The plants originally found in Northeast China were all wild plants. In order to meet domestic and foreign market demand for evening primrose oil, large-scale artificial cultivation has been carried out in recent years, and large areas have been planted in Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. In addition, through scientific research, evening primrose with high yield and high oil content has been successfully developed.

Evening primrose oil is extracted from the mature seeds of evening primrose. The oil content of seeds of different species is 15%-25%. In addition to palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid and stearic acid, the oil contains 7%-10% gamma-linolenic acid. Therefore, evening primrose oil has very obvious functional properties. Evening primrose oil and its finished products have wide medical and medicinal value in treating high blood pressure, preventing cerebral thrombosis, lowering lipids, lowering blood sugar, and anti-aging.