Echium: A Source of Stearidonic Acid Adapted to the Northern Great Plains in the US

is an annual plant, but occasionally can be biennial. Plants form a rosette with oval leaves at the beginning of the season. Several stems are produced at the base of the rosette. Stems have long, white trichomes or hairs. Flowers uncurl on an inflorescence called a cyme that has as many as 30 flowers. Flowers are perfect, blue, purple, sometimes white, and pink, trumpet-shaped, and sessile (IENICA 2002). One to four nutlets or seeds are produced at the calyx. Seeds are dark brown or grey, small only 3 mm long, and have a triangular shape with three sides (Nicholls 2000). The plant grows to about 70 to 120 cm in height (Fig. 1).Echium seed oil varies from 200 to 250 g kg