Ocimum

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

• Family

  Lamiaceae

• Scientific Name

  Ocimum

• Description

  Description - Herbs or low shrubs, with erect or ascending branched stems, usually dentate petioled leaves and clustered flowers. Calyx deflexed in fruit, its tube eampanulate or ovoid, 5-lobed, the lobes unequal, the lower ones somewhat united. Corolla white or nearly white, its tube usually shorter than the calyx, its lobes nearly equal. Stamens 4, didynamous, the lower pair appressed to the lower lip of the corolla; filaments naked or appendaged. Ovary 4-carpellary; style basal. Nutlets smooth or rugose. [Greek, odorous.] About 40 species widely distributed in warm and tropical regions. Type species: Ocimum basilicum L.