Oil Berry
One of the most useful plants known. It grows well in rocky soils but good tilled earth is too rich for it and burns out the plants after a single harvest. It prefers a dry climate and the temperate rainforest or marshland drowns the plant and it fails. When doing well it produces fruits year round. Many birds like the berries and other animals will eat them, especially in winter when better fare is not available.
The shrub has three narrow fingers on it's leaf, which sprout in clusters of three. A mature plant will stand 1.8 meters tall and a meter across if it has room. The fruits are oval and 2 cm long by 1.5 wide. The waxy pale colored, soft bodied fruit of the oil berry shrub is bursting with a light oil. Harvested and pulped, then squeezed and pressed it produces a light oil with a faintly yellow-green hue. The scent is woody and the taste is like wet sawdust. Berries will produce 30-40% oil by volume. This oil is an excellent lubrication for metal joints and hinges. It is a pleasing oil for use in lanterns and lamps, with the side effect of a scent of fresh sawed wood. It has some soothing properties for dry or irritated skin. But the oil has unique properties when combined by alchemists and herbalists with other substances and extracts.
Combined with the extracts of the wax beetle the improved oil lasts longer for a given volume while producing as much light in a lantern. The improved lantern oil is very popular and useful.
The oil when mixed with extracts of Fire Beetles produces the infamous Dragon oil which is hot and fast burning, ignited easily and sticks where it is splashed, poured or spilled. Adventurers and military units are fond of using it in projectiles to devastating effect.
The caustic extracts of Blister Beetles or lye combine with the oil to make soaps.
The oil, when mixed with the juice of the seed of Elder Flowers produces an oil that is super slippery. A drop makes hinges, bolts and moving parts slip smoothly. Anything painted with a layer of this oil is almost impossible to hold onto for the next hour or so. It is so slippery that use is banned in wrestling matches. It is however, favored by lovers and practitioners of erotic arts- making problems of dryness or discomfort vanish. Escapists use it on wrists and ankles to help escape bonds in performances, or involuntary bondage. Likewise it is used as a defense against invaders: a spill of the oil makes it impossible to walk or even to crawl across a floor.
The shrub has three narrow fingers on it's leaf, which sprout in clusters of three. A mature plant will stand 1.8 meters tall and a meter across if it has room. The fruits are oval and 2 cm long by 1.5 wide. The waxy pale colored, soft bodied fruit of the oil berry shrub is bursting with a light oil. Harvested and pulped, then squeezed and pressed it produces a light oil with a faintly yellow-green hue. The scent is woody and the taste is like wet sawdust. Berries will produce 30-40% oil by volume. This oil is an excellent lubrication for metal joints and hinges. It is a pleasing oil for use in lanterns and lamps, with the side effect of a scent of fresh sawed wood. It has some soothing properties for dry or irritated skin. But the oil has unique properties when combined by alchemists and herbalists with other substances and extracts.
Combined with the extracts of the wax beetle the improved oil lasts longer for a given volume while producing as much light in a lantern. The improved lantern oil is very popular and useful.
The oil when mixed with extracts of Fire Beetles produces the infamous Dragon oil which is hot and fast burning, ignited easily and sticks where it is splashed, poured or spilled. Adventurers and military units are fond of using it in projectiles to devastating effect.
The caustic extracts of Blister Beetles or lye combine with the oil to make soaps.
The oil, when mixed with the juice of the seed of Elder Flowers produces an oil that is super slippery. A drop makes hinges, bolts and moving parts slip smoothly. Anything painted with a layer of this oil is almost impossible to hold onto for the next hour or so. It is so slippery that use is banned in wrestling matches. It is however, favored by lovers and practitioners of erotic arts- making problems of dryness or discomfort vanish. Escapists use it on wrists and ankles to help escape bonds in performances, or involuntary bondage. Likewise it is used as a defense against invaders: a spill of the oil makes it impossible to walk or even to crawl across a floor.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Many will grow Oil berry in rocky poor soils it likes best, and most press the fruits for the oil which they use or sell in market or to herbalists. The fruit pulp is used as animal feed immediately or dried for later use. The oil is stable for several months even in warm temperatures and may remain fresh for years in cold climes, or if sealed in bottles with wax caps or ground glass.
Wild oil berry may be found in more rugged, dry areas. Usually in small clusters. A single wild bush may produce upto 12 kg of fruits, though 6-9 is more common. Cultivated ones with master farmers or herbalists have produced as much as 20 kg of fruits per season. Intentional planting and raising the Oil berry requires poor, drier and rocky soil conditions, light to moderate rain and temperatures above freezing for the fruit to form and grow.
Many regions produce Oil berry oil for themselves as well as trade to mountain, wet or colder regions where the berry is not available and the oil is in demand. Large barrels or ceramic amphora are used to transport the oil. There are limited areas in Olia lands where it can be found. It is wide spread in the Esereti provinces, moderate in the Taurien republics and Dragon Kingdoms. Much of the Golam lands have too much rain, but inland valleys may be dry and rocky enough. A few of the Torga Shard islands have regions of Oil berry. The fae Commonwealth
Wild oil berry may be found in more rugged, dry areas. Usually in small clusters. A single wild bush may produce upto 12 kg of fruits, though 6-9 is more common. Cultivated ones with master farmers or herbalists have produced as much as 20 kg of fruits per season. Intentional planting and raising the Oil berry requires poor, drier and rocky soil conditions, light to moderate rain and temperatures above freezing for the fruit to form and grow.
Many regions produce Oil berry oil for themselves as well as trade to mountain, wet or colder regions where the berry is not available and the oil is in demand. Large barrels or ceramic amphora are used to transport the oil. There are limited areas in Olia lands where it can be found. It is wide spread in the Esereti provinces, moderate in the Taurien republics and Dragon Kingdoms. Much of the Golam lands have too much rain, but inland valleys may be dry and rocky enough. A few of the Torga Shard islands have regions of Oil berry. The fae Commonwealth
Value
1-2 sp per kg of fruits. Typically in buckets 2-3 Kg. 2 buckets produces roughly 1 liter of oil.
Rarity
Common
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