Ocimum

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Lamiaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Ocimum

  • Description

    Genus Description - Aromatic herbs or subshrubs. Leaves opposite, entire to serrulate. Flowers bisexual, pedicellate, in verticils at the nodes of terminal racemes or panicles; calyx bell-shaped, enlarged and reflexed in fruit, bilabiate, the upper lip entire, rounded or concave, the lower lip with 4 unequal, awl-shaped teeth; corolla tubular, bilabiate, the upper lip 4-lobed, the lower lip entire, planar or spreading; stamens 4, didynamous, exserted, declinate. Fruit of 4, 1-seeded, globose to obovoid nutlets.

    Distribution and Ecology - A tropical genus of about 100 species.