Plant Oils, Waxes and Wicks for Alternative Lighting: Many plants you can grow in your garden can be used to provide lighting. Some of these plants produce a wax or an oil that can be made into candles, some yield an oil that can be burnt to produce a bright flame, and others can be used as wicks for candles or lamps. SHOW NOTES Oil rich plants you can grow in your garden Brassica napus – Colza, Oilseed Rape: A hardy annual plant native to the Mediterranean, growing to about four feet tall (just over a metre). The seed contains up to 45% of an edible semi-drying oil that is used for lighting, as a lubricant, in soap making, and as a vegetable wax substitute. Carthamus tinctorius - Safflower: Grows well in a poor, dry soil in a sunny position. The seeds are oil rich and the flower petals are sometimes used as a substitute for saffron. Fagus sylvatica - Beech: A hardy, deciduous tree. You can press a semi-drying oil from the seed and use it as a fuel for lighting, as a lubricant, or for polishing wood. Glaucium flavum - Horned Poppy: Another hardy perennial. This plant grows in any good garden soil. The oil from its seeds is used as a lighting fuel, and burns cleanly. You can also use the oil in soap-making. Guizotia abyssinica - Ramtil: This hardy annual requires a tropical climate but it has been known to grow in temperate zones. It needs to grow in well-fertilised soil. You can extract a drying oil from the seeds and use it as a lighting fuel or in soap-making. Lallemantia iberica: Dragon's Head: This is a plant in the mint family that grows to about half a metre (one and a half feet). The seed contains up to 30% of a drying oil that you can use for lighting, as a varnish, in paints, as a lubricant as a wood preservative, or as an ingredient of oil-based paints, furniture polishes, printer's inks and soap. Sinapis alba - White Mustard: The seed contains up to 35% of a semi-drying oil that you can use as a lubricant or for lighting. Other wax yielding plants Aleurites moluccanus, the Candlenut, is a flowering tree that’s also known as Candleberry. Some people even string the seeds together and light them, like a string of little candles. Ceroxylon alpinum, the Andean Wax Palm, also known as the Andean wax palm. A wax obtained from the trunk is used for making candles. Euphorbia antisyphilitica, the Candelilla or wax plant. A shrubby little plant with thickly clustered, almost leafless stems covered in wax that you can obtain by simmering the stems, especially in winter, and skimming the wax off the water. Some members of the Rhus genus have seeds that you can squeeze oil from. At normal temperatures the oil goes semi-soft like tallow, and you can shape it into candles. They include: Rhus chinensis, Chinese Gall, or Chinese sumac. Rhus succedanea, the Wax Tree and Rhus trichocarpa, Bristly Fruit Sumac. Santalum acuminatum - Quandong. You can press oil out of the seeds as use it as a lighting fuel. Sapium sebiferum - Chinese Tallow Tree. The seed is coated with a wax that you can use to make candles and soap, or as a lighting fuel. Stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum, Esparto Grass. You can extract a hard, useful vegetable wax from it. Copernicia prunifera, Brazilian Wax Palm, Carnauba Palm, Carnauba Wax. The undersides of the leaves are coated with a very useful wax, and you can express oil from the seeds. Saccharum officinarum, Sugarcane, Purple Sugar Cane. Amazingly, you can get wax from sugar cane. Copernicia alba, Caranday Palm, or Caranda Palm. You can obtain a high quality wax from the leaves, and use it in polishes or for lighting. Visit our website at www.craftsteading.com and search for Craftsteading on YouTube.
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