Holy basil
Ocimum tenuiflorum · Accepted scientific name
Scientific literature: Very Extensive (1437 studies) · ★★★★★
Holy basil, scientifically known as Ocimum tenuiflorum, is a sacred perennial herb central to Ayurvedic medicine. Renowned for its potent adaptogenic properties, it helps the body manage stress and promotes holistic wellness. This aromatic plant offers diverse therapeutic benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial effects, making it truly extraordinary.
Names and Synonyms
Common Names
- Holy basil
- Holy Basil
- brush-leaf-tea
- holy basil
- sacred basil
- Krishna Tulsi
Scientific Names
Accepted name
Ocimum tenuiflorumSynonyms
- Plectranthus monachorum
- Moschosma tenuiflorum
- Geniosporum tenuiflorum
- Ocimum sanctum var. hirsutum
- Ocimum subserratum
- Lumnitzera tenuiflora
- Ocimum sanctum
- Ocimum sanctum var. cubensis
- Ocimum monachorum
- Ocimum hirsutum
- Ocimum inodorum
- Ocimum tenuiflorum f. villicaulis
Regional and Traditional Names
Spanish:
- Ocimum caryophyllinum
- Planta tulasí
- Geniosporum tenuiflorum
- Tulsi
- Ocimum sanctum var. cubensis
- Tulasi
- Albahaca sagrada
- Ocimum hirsutum
- Ocimum anisodorum
- Ocimum sanctum var. hirsutum
- Albahaca tulasi
- Ocimum villosum
- Albahaca hindú
- balánoy
- albahaca morada
- Albahaca
German:
- indisches Basilikum
- Ocimum sanctum
- Tulsi
- heiliges Basilikum
- Tulasi
- Königsbasilikum
French:
- Basilic sacré
Sources: Wikidata, Catalogue of Life
Taxonomical Classification
This plant, Ocimum tenuiflorum, belongs to the kingdom Plantae and the phylum Streptophyta. Within the class Equisetopsida and subclass Magnoliidae, it is classified under the order Lamiales and the family Lamiaceae. Finally, it is identified by the genus Ocimum.
| Rank | Classification |
|---|---|
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Streptophyta |
| Class | Equisetopsida |
| Subclass | Magnoliidae |
| Order | Lamiales |
| Family | Lamiaceae |
| Genus | Ocimum |
Sources: The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP)
Distribution
This plant exhibits a wide geographical distribution spanning across several continents. In West-Central Tropical Africa, it can be found in Gabon. Its presence extends to East Tropical Africa, specifically within the borders of Kenya. In the southern regions of the continent, the species is distributed through Malawi and Zambia. Finally, its range reaches Asia, where it is located in South-Central China.
| Region | Area |
|---|---|
| West-Central Tropical Africa | Gabon |
| East Tropical Africa | Kenya |
| South Tropical Africa | Malawi |
| South Tropical Africa | Zambia |
| China | China South-Central |
| China | Hainan |
| China | China Southeast |
| Eastern Asia | Taiwan |
| Indian Subcontinent | Assam |
| Indian Subcontinent | Bangladesh |
Sources: The World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP)
Botanical Identification
Ecology
The ecology of Ocimum tenuiflorum is characterized by its ability to thrive across a diverse altitudinal gradient, ranging from sea level up to a maximum elevation of 1500 m AMSL. It typically colonizes tropical and subtropical environments, favoring regions with warm temperatures and high humidity, though it demonstrates significant adaptability to various soil types ranging from sandy to loamy. The plant is often found in disturbed sites, forest edges, and open grasslands where it can access ample sunlight, which is essential for its physiological development and the synthesis of its bioactive compounds. Its distribution is heavily influenced by seasonal monsoon patterns, as it requires adequate moisture during its growth phases but can withstand periods of moderate heat.
- Elevational range max:
- 1500 m AMSL
- Elevational range min:
- 0 m AMSL
Life history
The life history of Ocimum tenuiflorum is characterized by its classification as a perennial plant, allowing it to persist through multiple growing seasons. In terms of its structural life form, it exhibits characteristics of both a therophyte and a chamaephyte. As a therophyte, it often completes its reproductive cycle through seed production, while its growth habit as a chamaephyte indicates that its perennating buds are located close to the soil surface, enabling it to withstand varying environmental conditions and regenerate effectively.
- Life form :
- chamaephyte
- Life form :
- therophyte
- Lifecycle :
- perennial
Morphology
The morphology of Ocimum tenuiflorum is characterized by its growth form as a non-woody herb and specifically a forb. This self-supporting plant typically reaches a mean height of 1 m, with a maximum height also reaching approximately 1 m. It functions as an independent organism, neither acting as a parasite nor as an epiphyte, maintaining a terrestrial lifestyle. As a self-supporting species, it does not exhibit climbing behaviors such as lianas or vines.
- Aquatic :
- terrestrial
- Climber :
- self-supporting
- Epiphyte :
- terrestrial
- Growth form :
- herb
- Growth form :
- forb
- Parasite :
- independent
- Plant height mean:
- 1 m
- Woodiness :
- non-woody
Physiology
The physiology of Ocimum tenuiflorum is characterized by specific morphological dimensions and metabolic processes that define its growth patterns. The plant exhibits distinct leaf variability, with leaf lengths ranging from a minimum of 3 cm to a maximum of 6 cm. Concurrently, the leaf width fluctuates between a minimum of 1 cm and a maximum of 2.5 cm, reflecting the adaptive structural complexity of its foliage. In terms of its nutrient acquisition and symbiotic capabilities, the plant does not function as a nitrogen fixer, meaning it lacks the specialized physiological mechanisms to convert atmospheric nitrogen into usable forms through symbiotic bacteria.
- Leaf length max:
- 6 cm
- Leaf length min:
- 3 cm
- Leaf width max:
- 2.5 cm
- Leaf width min:
- 1 cm
- Nitrogen fixer :
- no
Reproduction
The reproduction of Ocimum tenuiflorum is characterized by the production of small, delicate flowers that typically exhibit a pink coloration. These flowers vary in size, with lengths ranging from a minimum of 0.2 cm to a maximum of 0.45 cm. Following pollination, the plant develops fruit classified as a nut, which is characterized by being indehiscent, meaning it does not spontaneously split open at maturity to release its contents. These fruits are quite small, measuring between 0.08 cm and 0.12 cm in length. Contained within the fruit are the seeds, which possess a mean mass of approximately 0.000673333 g, with individual seed masses ranging from a minimum of 0.00022 g to a maximum of 0.0009 g.
- Dehiscence :
- indehiscent
- Flower colour :
- pink
- Flower length max:
- 0.45 cm
- Flower length min:
- 0.2 cm
- Fruit length max:
- 0.12 cm
- Fruit length min:
- 0.08 cm
- Fruit type :
- nut
- Seed mass max:
- 9e-04 g
- Seed mass mean:
- 0.000673333 g
- Seed mass min:
- 0.00022 g
Sources: Global Inventory of Floras and Traits (GIFT)
Plant Parts
Ocimum tenuiflorum has 6 reported plant parts identified across 49 scientific publications and several other databases that are studied for medicinal purposes. The most consistently reported plant part include leaf, root, stem, seed, flower.
| Plant part | Supporting sources | Consensus |
|---|---|---|
| Leaf | 36 supporting sources | ★★★★★ |
| Root | 5 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| Stem | 4 supporting sources | ★★☆☆☆ |
| Seed | 2 supporting sources | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Flower | 1 supporting sources | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Fruit | 1 supporting sources | ★☆☆☆☆ |
Leaf
- Cureus
- Radiation research
- Research in veterinary science
- Pharmacognosy magazine
- Applied radiation and isotopes : including data, instrumentation and methods for use in agriculture, industry and medicine
View 31 additional sources
- Free radical research
- Parasitology research
- Indian journal of physiology and pharmacology
- Mycoses
- Pharmacological research
- The British journal of radiology
- Journal of ethnopharmacology
- Protoplasma
- Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP
- Anti-cancer drugs
- Indian journal of experimental biology
- Nutrition and cancer
- Organic and medicinal chemistry letters
- Acta microbiologica et immunologica Hungarica
- Environmental toxicology and pharmacology
- Biological trace element research
- International journal of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
- Journal of medicinal food
- Journal of basic and clinical physiology and pharmacology
- Nepal Medical College journal : NMCJ
- Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology
- Pharmaceutical biology
- Recent patents on biotechnology
- Plant & cell physiology
- Japanese journal of medical science & biology
- Archives of physiology and biochemistry
- Pakistan journal of biological sciences : PJBS
- Journal of basic microbiology
- BMC complementary and alternative medicine
- Mutation research
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
Root
- Parasitology research
- Pharmacognosy magazine
- Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces
- Plant & cell physiology
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
Stem
- Applied radiation and isotopes : including data, instrumentation and methods for use in agriculture, industry and medicine
- Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces
- Plant & cell physiology
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
Seed
- Applied radiation and isotopes : including data, instrumentation and methods for use in agriculture, industry and medicine
- Journal of ethnopharmacology
Flower
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
Fruit
- Applied radiation and isotopes : including data, instrumentation and methods for use in agriculture, industry and medicine
Chemicals
Ocimum tenuiflorum has 213 reported phytochemicals identified across 49 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported chemicals include eugenol, Flavonoids, Ursolic acid, apigenin, rosmarinic acid.
| Chemical | Supporting sources | Consensus |
|---|---|---|
| eugenol | 21 supporting sources | ★★★★★ |
| Flavonoids | 13 supporting sources | ★★★★★ |
| Ursolic acid | 10 supporting sources | ★★★★★ |
| apigenin | 8 supporting sources | ★★★★☆ |
| rosmarinic acid | 8 supporting sources | ★★★★☆ |
| Tannins | 6 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| luteolin | 6 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| Saponins | 5 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| Terpenoids | 5 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| OLEANOLIC ACID | 4 supporting sources | ★★☆☆☆ |
eugenol
- Dr. Duke
- Physiologia plantarum
- Alternative therapies in health and medicine
- AMB Express
- Life (Basel, Switzerland)
View 16 additional sources
- Protoplasma
- Frontiers in plant science
- PloS one
- Natural product communications
- Biochimica et biophysica acta
- Scientific reports
- Journal of medicinal food
- Inflammation & allergy drug targets
- Bioinformation
- Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
- Plant & cell physiology
- Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
- Indian journal of physiology and pharmacology
- BMC plant biology
- Current computer-aided drug design
- Frontiers in microbiology
Flavonoids
- Data in brief
- Metabolites
- Physiology and molecular biology of plants : an international journal of functional plant biology
- Indian journal of pharmaceutical sciences
- BMC research notes
View 8 additional sources
- BMC complementary and alternative medicine
- Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
- Microbial pathogenesis
- Phytochemical analysis : PCA
- Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
- Journal of food science
- Pharmaceutical biology
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
Ursolic acid
- Dr. Duke
- Journal of natural medicines
- Journal of biomolecular structure & dynamics
- Cell biochemistry and biophysics
- Phytochemical analysis : PCA
View 5 additional sources
- Medicines (Basel, Switzerland)
- Journal of medicinal food
- Inflammation & allergy drug targets
- TheScientificWorldJournal
- BMC plant biology
apigenin
- Dr. Duke
- Alternative therapies in health and medicine
- Journal of natural products
- The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology
- International journal of biological macromolecules
View 3 additional sources
- Cell biochemistry and biophysics
- Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP
- Natural product research
rosmarinic acid
- Dr. Duke
- Alternative therapies in health and medicine
- Biotechnology and applied biochemistry
- Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP
- Inflammation & allergy drug targets
View 3 additional sources
- Plant molecular biology
- TheScientificWorldJournal
- Natural product research
Tannins
- Data in brief
- Research in veterinary science
- Indian journal of pharmaceutical sciences
- Journal of food science
- Pharmaceutical biology
View 1 additional sources
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
luteolin
- Dr. Duke
- Alternative therapies in health and medicine
- Cell biochemistry and biophysics
- Medicines (Basel, Switzerland)
- TheScientificWorldJournal
View 1 additional sources
- Natural product research
Saponins
- Dr. Duke
- Data in brief
- Pharmacognosy magazine
- Indian journal of pharmaceutical sciences
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
Terpenoids
- Data in brief
- Protoplasma
- Phytochemical analysis : PCA
- Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
- Pharmaceutical biology
OLEANOLIC ACID
- Dr. Duke
- Journal of natural medicines
- Medicines (Basel, Switzerland)
- TheScientificWorldJournal
Activities
Ocimum tenuiflorum has 532 reported activities identified across 49 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported activities include Antioxidant, Antibacterial, Anticancer, Antidiabetic, Antimicrobial.
| Activity | Supporting sources | Consensus |
|---|---|---|
| Antioxidant | 18 supporting sources | ★★★★★ |
| Antibacterial | 7 supporting sources | ★★★★☆ |
| Anticancer | 7 supporting sources | ★★★★☆ |
| Antidiabetic | 7 supporting sources | ★★★★☆ |
| Antimicrobial | 7 supporting sources | ★★★★☆ |
| Antiviral | 6 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| Antifungal | 5 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| Cardioprotective | 5 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| Hepatoprotective | 5 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
| Neuroprotective | 5 supporting sources | ★★★☆☆ |
Antioxidant
- Dr. Duke
- Natural product research
- BMC complementary and alternative medicine
- Protoplasma
- The Journal of pharmacy and pharmacology
View 13 additional sources
- Journal of clinical biochemistry and nutrition
- BioMed research international
- Current molecular medicine
- Drug design, development and therapy
- Nigerian medical journal : journal of the Nigeria Medical Association
- Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
- Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
- Cureus
- ACS applied bio materials
- TheScientificWorldJournal
- Redox report : communications in free radical research
- Journal of cancer research and therapeutics
- Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie
Antibacterial
- Dr. Duke
- IET nanobiotechnology
- Research in veterinary science
- Protoplasma
- Bioinformation
View 2 additional sources
- ACS applied bio materials
- Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
Anticancer
- Dr. Duke
- Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.)
- RSC advances
- Natural product research
- Anti-cancer agents in medicinal chemistry
View 2 additional sources
- Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)
- TheScientificWorldJournal
Antidiabetic
- Dr. Duke
- Alternative therapies in health and medicine
- Pharmacognosy magazine
- Asian Pacific journal of tropical medicine
- Journal of clinical biochemistry and nutrition
View 2 additional sources
- ACS applied bio materials
- TheScientificWorldJournal
Antimicrobial
- Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology
- BioMed research international
- Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
- Journal of oral and maxillofacial pathology : JOMFP
- Cureus
View 2 additional sources
- TheScientificWorldJournal
- Contemporary clinical dentistry
Antiviral
- Dr. Duke
- Current pharmaceutical biotechnology
- BMC complementary and alternative medicine
- Cureus
- Molecular biotechnology
View 1 additional sources
- Journal of Ayurveda and integrative medicine
Antifungal
- Bioinformation
- IET nanobiotechnology
- Natural product communications
- Scientific reports
- TheScientificWorldJournal
Cardioprotective
- Dr. Duke
- Molecular and cellular biochemistry
- Natural product research
- Archives of physiology and biochemistry
- Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
Hepatoprotective
- Dr. Duke
- Alternative therapies in health and medicine
- World journal of gastroenterology
- Indian journal of physiology and pharmacology
- Drug design, development and therapy
Neuroprotective
- Dr. Duke
- Data in brief
- Natural product research
- Life (Basel, Switzerland)
- TheScientificWorldJournal
Medicinal Uses
Ocimum tenuiflorum has 40 reported medicinal uses identified across 49 scientific publications and several other databases. The most consistently reported uses include COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 infection, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, cancer.
Most Reported Uses
| Use | Sources | Consensus |
|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 | Protein and peptide letters (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| SARS-CoV-2 infection | Computers in biology and medicine (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| Staphylococcus aureus | Natural product communications (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| Streptococcus mutans | Natural product communications (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| cancer | Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.) (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| inflammation | Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.) (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| Candida albicans | Journal of oral and maxillofacial pathology : JOMFP (and other 2 sources) | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Parkinson's disease | Metabolic brain disease (and other 2 sources) | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Bacillus subtilis | Natural product communications (and other 1 sources) | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| Dental caries | Cureus (and other 1 sources) | ★☆☆☆☆ |
Preparations
| Preparations | Sources | Consensus |
|---|---|---|
| leaf extract | Radiation research (and other 8 sources) | ★★★★☆ |
| extracts | Die Pharmazie (and other 6 sources) | ★★★☆☆ |
| leaves | Journal of parasitic diseases : official organ of the Indian Society for Parasitology (and other 4 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| ethanol extract | Indian journal of pharmaceutical sciences (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| ethanolic extract | Data in brief (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| extract | Life (Basel, Switzerland) (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| leaf extracts | Parasitology research (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| plant extracts | IET nanobiotechnology (and other 3 sources) | ★★☆☆☆ |
| alcoholic extract | Indian journal of medical sciences (and other 2 sources) | ★☆☆☆☆ |
| essential oil | Phytomedicine : international journal of phytotherapy and phytopharmacology (and other 2 sources) | ★☆☆☆☆ |