The Camelina species, commonly known as false flax, are native to Mediterranean regions of Europe and Asia.

Most species of this genus have been little studied, with the exception of Camelina sativa, historically cultivated as an oil plant.

Heinrich Johann Nepomuk von Crantz was the first botanist to use the genus Camelina in his classification works in 1762.

[4] The first full genome sequence for Camelina sativa was released on 1 August 2013, by a Canadian research team.

[5] Technical details of Camelina's genome sequence were published on 23 April 2014 in the academic journal Nature Communications.

[15] The greenhouse gas emission of camelina biodiesel produced by no-till farming is lower than that of traditional methods.