Oilseed

Oilseed is the seed of the oilbush. It is cultivated to produce seed oil, which can be consumed as food, but is mainly refined as a fuel for lamps and machinery.

The oilbush is a hardy green plant that flourishes in tropical and equatorial parts of Anásthias. It has bright yellow flowers that once pollenated, developed a fruiting seed body rich in volatile oils. The oils are highly flammable, so when they are caught by wildfires, the pods burst into flames ejecting seeds high into the air, dispersing over a wide area. Wild varieties of oilbush are tenacious and grow as weeds, but domesticated varieties have been bred to have large heavy pods rich in oil.

Oilbushes are heavily cultivated in Hartheraplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHarthera

The Hartheran Union, commonly named Harthera, is an imperialist maritime nation state dominating the northeast of Anásthias. It is one of the two great powers of the modern epoch, arguably the most technologically and militarily powerful nation in the world, only matched by the vast size and wealth of its neighbour, viridOrorrMEOrorrOrorrOrorrOrorr. Farmers have to take measures to prevent fires, such as sufficient fire breaks between fields to ensure whole crops aren't lost. Oil is processed by picking and crushing the leaves, then allowing the oil to separate in settling tanks. The oil is then refined into different grades by settling, and by distillation.

Seed oil is a major traded commodity in Harthera, where it is particularly exported via the port of Narillin.