Ocimum sanctum (also tulsi, tulasī, or Holy Basil is an aromatic plant in the family Lamiaceae which is native throughout the old world tropics and widespread as a cultivated plant and an escaped weed. Tulsi is cultivated for religious and medicinal purposes, and for its essential oil. It is widely known across South Asia as a medicinal plant and an herbal tea, commonly used in Ayurveda, and ha...

CONTEXT Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae), popularly known as basil, is part of a group of medicinal plants widely used in cooking and known for its beneficial health properties, possessing significant antioxidant effects, antinociceptive, and others. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to determine the pharmacological effects produced on the bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus and Pse...

The chemical compositions of essential oils obtained from Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora (1.39 % dry weight) and Ocimum basilicum (0.61 %) were analyzed by GC–MS. Seventy-three constituents representing 99.64 % of the chromatographic peak area were obtained in the O. basilicum var. thyrsiflora oil, whereas 80 constituents representing 91.11 % observed in the essential oil of O. basilicum wer...

Screen house trials consisting five plant extracts including a synthetic fungicide (Azadirachta indica, Jatropha curcas Linn., Alium sativum, Ocimum gratissimum, Chromolaena odorata and Benlate ) were tested at the Taraba State University(TSU) Research Farm centre (Ardokoa: Latitude 08 0 53′N and Longitude 11 0 19′E) in a completely randomized design arrangement. The results of the screen house...

Basil (Ocimum L.), a medicinal and aromatic plant genus, is widely used in food and pharmaceutical industry for ages. Our previous studies reported high potential of essential oils in the unexplored and un-exploited landraces of Omani basil. In the present study, nine Omani landraces of common basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) were analyzed for the assessment of genetic diversity with RAPD markers. O...

The present study deals with the identification, isolation and in silico characterization of gene encoding geraniol dehydrogenase from Ocimum americanum. Mature leaves of plants have a higher degree of secondary metabolites that hampers the nucleic acid isolation, PCR amplification and other downstream reactions. The DNA isolation from mature leaves of O. americanum is described here which invo...

Acetone extract of Stem of Ocimum gratissimum was screened for the antifertility activity in proven fertile female albino rats at the doses 100, 200 and 500 mg/kg b.wt./day. Oral administration of the extract to mated female rats on days 1-5 of pregnancy resulted in a decline in the fertility index, numbers of uterine implants and live fetuses in a dose dependent manner as was confirmed by lapa...

Ocimum gratissimum is a well-known plant used in the Indian system of medicine. Folklore medicine claims its use in headache, fever, diarrhoea, pneumonia etc. Research carried out using different in vitro and in vivo techniques of biological evaluation supports most of the claims. This review presents the ethnobotanical, natural product chemistry, pharmacological, clinical and toxicological dat...

Ocimum sanctum fixed oil showed good antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus pumilus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, where S. aureus was the most sensitive organism. Sesame and soyabean oils also showed moderate activity against S. aureus. Higher content of linolenic acid in O. sanctum fixed oil could contribute towards its antibacterial activity. The antibacterial activity c...

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is an herb that is used to add a distinct aroma and flavor to food. Volatile compounds emitted from fully expanded fresh leaves grown in drip-irrigated plots that were covered with six colors of mulch were compared. The colors reflected a range of photosynthetic photon flux, far-red, red, and blue light from the soil surface to developing leaves. Our objective ...