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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Sacred Basil, Holy Basil, Sacret Thai Basil TRADITIONAL NAMES: Miri (RR AT MT AK TW), Mori (MG), Mili (TS); Other Polynesian - La‘au Sauga (SAM) GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE India - Indonesia COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Recent, Not naturalised; Land, lowlands SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Ornamental leaves, ?Food Cond KEY FEATURES: Shrub to 1m. LEAVES pungent, sweet-camphor-like; to 6x3cm, wide-oval, sharp teeth, short hairs above and below; stalk to 2cm. FLOWERS racemes to 10cm; corolla to 3mm, pale pink or pale lavender, 2 lipped. NUTLETS purple-green to brown, wide-ovoid, smooth to slightly pitted, to 1.2mm long SIMILAR SPECIES: See under Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum).

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present    Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++	P	?				-

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
P?			-

Ocimum tenuiflorum Linnaeus
SYNONYMS: Ocimum sanctum [sensu, incl. W90]

TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); MAGNOLIOPSIDA (=Dicotyledones); ASTERIDAE; Lamiales; LAMIACEAE

GENERAL NOTE: Grows and treated as a weed in Fiji (AC Smith). In India Sacred Basil is not often used as a culinary herb, but it is commonly used in a religious context.

Vouchers:
None Recorded.

References:
p.793 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.5/230 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.380a Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands

Data Update History (information):
zB02, zD02

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