Sweet Basil

Herbs annual. Stems erect, 20-80 cm tall, apex retrorse puberulent, base glabrous, tinged red, much branched. Petiole ca. 1.5 cm, ± narrowly winged apically; leaf blade ovate to oblong, 2.5-5 × 1-2.5 cm, subglabrous, abaxially glandular, base attenuate, margin irregularly dentate or subentire, apex subobtuse to acute; lateral veins 3- or 4-paired. Thyrses 10-20 cm, puberulent; verticillasters puberulent or densely pilose, approximate apically; bracts sessile, oblanceolate, 5-8 mm, base attenuate, margin ciliate, apex acute, colored. Pedicel ca. 3 mm in flower, to 5 mm in fruit. Calyx campanulate, ca. 4 × 3.5 mm, pubescent outside, pilose at throat inside, tube ca. 2 mm; middle tooth of upper lip widest, ca. 2 × 1 mm, subcircular, concave, apex mucronate; lateral teeth broadly ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, apex acute; lower lip teeth lanceolate, ca. 2 mm, apex spinescent, ciliate; fruiting calyx persistent, conspicuously veined. Corolla purplish or with upper lip white, limb puberulent outside; tube ca. 3 mm, throat ± dilated; upper lip wide, ca. 3 × 4.5 mm, 4-lobed, ± flat; lower lip purple, ca. 6 mm. Stamens free, slightly exserted, posterior 2 dentate, base puberulent. Nutlets dark brown, ovoid, ca. 2.5 × 1 mm, glandular foveolate. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep-Dec.

Throughout the warmer parts of Asia, Africa and America; widely eultivated.

300-1500 m

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Africa, Asia]