Herbarium JCB

Ocimum americanum L.

Family : LAMIACEAE
Family (As per The Plant List) : Lamiaceae
Species : Ocimum americanum
Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Ocimum americanum L.
Common name : Lemon Basil
Vernacular name : Vanabarbrika (San.); Vantulsi (Hin.); NaayiTulasi (Kan.)
Collection Nos : CJS 10756, CJS 11976, Cramer 4677
Key identification features : An erect, much branched strongly aromatic undershrub. Leaves are elliptic-oblong, ovate-lanceolate, glabrous or nearly so, margin entire or shallowly serrate, lateral nerves of 4-5 pairs, impressed beneath. Thyrsus of about 15-20 cm long. Thyrses to about 15 cm long and branched. Flowers white with pedicels. Calyx is pubescent 1 4 arrangement. Upper lip is suborbicular, reticulately veined, ciliate. Central tooth of the lower lip longer than the lateral. Corolla is white and hairy without. Fruit is a nutlet, ellipsoid, balck. Calyx not enlarged in fruit.
Habit : Herb
Native : India, Tropical Africa
Comments : A common weed in wastelands
Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
Distribution Locality : Bagalkot, Bangalore, Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijapur, Chamrajnagar, Chikamagalur, Chikkaballapur, Chitradurga, Dakshina Kannada, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Hassan, Haveri, Kodagu, Kolar, Koppal, Mandya, Mysore, Raichur, Ramanagara, Shimoga, Tumkur, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Yadgir
Floras referred : Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 - Hassan; Seetharam et al., 2000 - Gulbarga; Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 - Coorg; Manjunath et al., 2003 - Davanagere; Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2014 - Flora of South Kanara