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Hydrocarbon Producing Crops - Some plants, e.g., Euphorbiaceae plants like Euphorbia lathyris, milkweed (Asclepia speciosa) and the tree legume Copaifera multijuga, produce hydrocarbons which can be converted into and used as diesel, called biodiesel. In addition, some freshwater and marine algae are also known to accumulate hydrocarbons.

Some algae like Chlamydomonas and anaerobic bacteria like Clostridium produce hydrogen gas, which can be used as a pollution free fuel. Long term research efforts are needed to develop these organisms as sources of bioenergy.

If algae are used to produce hydrogen from water using energy from sunlight, they could be regarded as energy crops as well.