African Basil

Ocimum gratissimum L.

Sources

19 listed

Best forFor cooks after a basil with a bold clove or thyme scent for soups, stews, fish and meat, and for readers curious why West African households have long brewed this leaf as a home remedy.

Clinical evidence

Traditional

Real World Significance

24Regional historical significance

Breadth 17 Depth 5 Density 30 Convergence 25 Continuity 70

SafetyUse with cautionCaution rather than safe. The leaf in kitchen amounts is everyday food, but the concentrated essential oil can be rich in methyleugenol, which the EMA's herbal committee classes, like estragole, as a genotoxic carcinogen in rodent studies, and the oil was toxic to rats and mice in proportion to the dose. Concentrated oil and long-term high intake therefore call for care, and the oil is best avoided in pregnancy, while breastfeeding and in young children.

Tradition

Folk medicine

Common preparations

Fresh HerbDried HerbTea infusionEssential oil

In short

Summary of findings for quick reference

African basil, Ocimum gratissimum, is a shrubby member of the mint family, native from tropical Africa and Madagascar to India and South-East Asia and naturalised in Brazil and the Caribbean. In English it is clove basil or scent leaf, to the Yoruba efirin or efinrin, to the Igbo nchanwu, in Brazil alfavaca-cravo and in India Vana Tulsi. Its strongly scented leaf seasons soups and stews and is brewed as a household remedy for fever, colds, cough and diarrhoea. It is neither sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) nor holy basil, the Tulsi of Hindu devotion (Ocimum tenuiflorum).

On paper its tradition is broad rather than old. Ethnobotanical surveys document it across West Africa and in Kenya, but almost all written records date from the twentieth century, so its historical significance is regional. Its character comes from the leaf oil, which changes from plant to plant. Some oils are dominated by eugenol, others by thymol and p-cymene, and some by methyleugenol. The science is mostly laboratory and animal work. A few small studies have tested it in people, as a mouth rinse that reduced dental plaque and as an oil in skin preparations for acne, and none of them tested the leaf tea.

In the EU African basil is not a registered herbal medicine, and the EMA mentions the species only on the safety side. Its herbal committee lists it among the plants that contain methyleugenol, which, like estragole, it classes as a genotoxic carcinogen in rodent studies. In daily life the leaf in the cooking pot is ordinary food. Concentrated essential oil, by contrast, calls for care and is best avoided in pregnancy, while breastfeeding and with young children.

Clinical evidence ↔ Historical significance

We display two separate evidence categories: clinical evidence from modern trials and historical significance from documented healing tradition. Both are valuable, but they answer different questions.

In every encyclopedia entry we evaluate two distinct categories of evidence. Clinical evidence as used in trials meets a narrower but scientifically essential bar. At the same time, the hundreds of thousands of plant species worldwide have only partially been captured and tested in modern studies.

Alongside the trial picture our researchers compile a comprehensive overview of where and since when a plant has been used across different traditions of natural medicine. When a plant has been used as a medicinal plant in many cultures across many generations, that historical significance deserves to be visible too.

Our position: a truly informative overview emerges only when both categories sit side by side. We communicate transparently what counts as what.

Overview

African basil, Ocimum gratissimum, is a much-branched aromatic shrub of the mint family (Lamiaceae), woody at the base and native from tropical Africa and Madagascar to India and South-East Asia. It has been introduced to Brazil, the Caribbean, Mexico and the Pacific islands. The parts used are the strongly scented leaves and leafy tops, fresh or dried, and the essential oil distilled from them. In West Africa it is the scent leaf, efirin or efinrin to the Yoruba and nchanwu to the Igbo, an everyday herb for soups and stews with fish and meat that doubles as a household remedy. It is brewed for coughs, colds and fever, taken against diarrhoea and used as a wash for a sore throat.

Two other basils share its name and are easily confused with it. Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is the softer, aniseed-scented basil of pesto, and holy basil or Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum, syn. Ocimum sanctum) is the sacred plant of Hindu households. That African basil itself goes by Vana Tulsi in India only adds to the muddle. In the EU it is not a registered herbal medicine, and the EMA mentions it only on the safety side, as one of the plants that contain methyleugenol. The science is mostly laboratory and animal work, plus a few small human studies of a mouth rinse and of the oil against acne. For the cook that leaves a clear picture. The leaf belongs in the pot, and the concentrated oil calls for care.

History

African basil has a broad tropical history rather than a classical one. Its home lies in tropical Africa and southern Asia, outside the world of the Greek and Roman herbals, so what is known of its use comes from kitchens and family compounds rather than from old texts. Linnaeus named the species in 1753 in Species Plantarum, and he reached for a superlative. Gratissimum means roughly the most pleasing, a fair verdict on a leaf that smells of clove. In West Africa the leaf flavours soups and stews with fish and meat, and the same plant serves as a household remedy, as an infusion for coughs and colds in Cameroon and Togo, against diarrhoea in Nigeria and Benin, and for ear infections and skin complaints in Côte d'Ivoire. Most written accounts of these uses are twentieth-century ethnobotany. The household knowledge behind them, handed down by word of mouth, is older, but no dated early text pins it down.

Beyond its native range it is now established in Brazil, where it is called alfavaca or alfavaca-cravo, clove alfavaca, and where researchers count it among the plants of Brazilian folk medicine used against infections and inflammation. It also grows in Jamaica, Cuba and Trinidad, in Mexico and on Pacific islands. In India it is Vana Tulsi, the forest Tulsi, distinct from holy basil. Laboratory interest took off in the late twentieth century. In 1996 microbiologists in Lagos tested leaf extracts against gut bacteria, in 1999 researchers at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad showed that a leaf extract calmed castor-oil diarrhoea in rats, and in 2011 a Brazilian dental team tested an African basil mouth rinse in a small clinical trial. A 2021 review by Ugbogu and colleagues brought the chemistry and pharmacology together and called for human trials to establish effective and safe doses.

The household tradition is very much alive. In 2021 researchers from the universities of Ilorin and Leeds asked Yoruba-speaking families in Kwara State, Nigeria, how they treat acute gastroenteritis, a common and dangerous illness in small children. More than two in five used herbal remedies, often agbo, home-made herbal mixtures, and scent leaf, efirin, turned out to be a regular ingredient of the two most popular, agbo iba and agbo jedi-jedi. Tested in the same study, the leaf extract held back the gut bacteria only weakly. The mixtures also showed why a folk remedy is more than its best-known herb, because the study lists naphthalene tablets, the stuff of mothballs, among the ingredients of agbo jedi-jedi.

Mechanism

African basil owes its character to the essential oil in its leaves, and that oil changes from plant to plant. Many plants are dominated by eugenol, the clove compound behind the name clove basil. A Colombian sample was 43 per cent eugenol. Others lean on thymol, carvacrol and p-cymene, and the oil also carries 1,8-cineole, gamma-terpinene, linalool and beta-caryophyllene. Beside the volatile oil, the leaf holds rosmarinic, caffeic and ellagic acids and flavonoids such as luteolin, apigenin and quercetin. Because the chemotype shifts with origin, growth stage and even the hour of harvest, a study only means something once you know which oil was tested.

Researchers in Benin showed how fickle the oil can be. Plants cut at seven in the morning gave an oil rich in p-cymene and thymol, the same stands cut at one in the afternoon or seven in the evening gave an oil dominated by p-cymene, and the morning oil was the strongest against Candida yeasts in the test tube. At the other extreme, the EMA's herbal committee cites an oil of Ocimum suave, a synonym of this species, that was about two thirds methyleugenol. That spread is why a bottle of African basil oil tells you little until its analysis is on the label.

In cell cultures and animals the oil and the leaf's phenolic compounds show antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, and single studies report anti-inflammatory, blood-sugar-lowering, liver-protecting and pain-relieving effects. Two experiments line up neatly with the West African folk use against diarrhoea. Ilori and colleagues (1996) found that leaf extracts inhibit five gut bacteria linked to diarrhoeal disease in the test tube, and Offiah and Chikwendu (1999) showed that a water extract of the leaf reduced castor-oil diarrhoea in rats and slowed the movement of gut contents. In isolated guinea-pig gut it blunted the response to acetylcholine. These are results in cells and rats. Whether a cup of leaf tea does the same in a person has never been tested.

Most of what science knows about African basil comes from the laboratory and from rats and mice, and the same holds for the whole genus. A 2026 systematic review of all basil species in low- and middle-income countries counted, among 97 included papers, 47 test-tube studies and 39 animal studies against only two randomised trials. The 2021 review by Ugbogu and colleagues, which gathers the traditional uses, chemistry and pharmacology of the species, ends by calling for human trials to establish effective and safe doses. Results for a single compound such as eugenol cannot simply be transferred to the whole leaf, and findings for a thymol oil do not automatically apply to a eugenol oil.

African basil has been tested in people most thoroughly in the mouth. In 2011 a Brazilian team gave volunteers a mouth rinse containing African basil to use after each of three daily brushings for three months. Plaque and gum bleeding fell in the basil group, with no statistically significant difference from the standard antiseptic chlorhexidine, though each group held only ten people. In a 2016 crossover trial from the same group, 15 volunteers stopped brushing for three days and rinsed instead with a 10 per cent basil solution, chlorhexidine or water. The basil rinse held back new plaque better than water, a statistically significant difference, but less well than chlorhexidine. Small as they are, these trials fit the old use of the leaf as a mouthwash and gargle in West and East Africa. Beyond the mouth, Nigerian researchers ran preliminary clinical tests in 2002 of skin preparations of the oil against acne, and a 2003 review of controlled trials lists them among the trials that reported results equivalent to conventional treatment.

Within that laboratory base, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity are the best-studied directions. The oil and leaf extracts scavenge free radicals and inhibit a wide range of bacteria and fungi, among them gut bacteria linked to diarrhoea and Candida yeasts, and animal studies add blood-sugar-lowering, liver-protecting and anti-inflammatory signals. The EMA has approached the plant from a different side. The public statement of its herbal committee on methyleugenol, adopted in November 2005, lists Ocimum gratissimum among the plants that contain this genotoxic carcinogen.

Evidence

6 Outcomes evaluated. Sorted by grade.

Outcome	Class	Grade	Effect	Studies
Culinary scent-leaf and folk household herbHouseholds in West and East Africa	Traditional	D	Traditional and culinary use
Fever, colds and cough (leaf infusion or juice)Traditional users in West Africa, not tested in trials	Traditional	D	Traditional use only
Antimicrobial activity (including enteric bacteria)In vitro and animal models	Emerging	I	Preclinical only	1 study
Antioxidant and metabolic activity (antidiabetic, hepatoprotective)In vitro and animal models	Emerging	I	Preclinical only
Dental plaque and gum inflammation (mouth rinse)Adult volunteers in Brazil, groups of 10 and 15	Emerging	D	Small human trials	2 studies
Essential oil alkenylbenzenes (estragole, methyleugenol)Concentrated essential oil and long-term high intake	Emerging	F	Constituent safety concern

Key studies

The studies that matter.

Randomised controlled trial · 2011 · 10 participants
A randomised, double-blind trial at the University of Fortaleza in Brazil split 30 volunteers between three mouth rinses, ten per group, used after brushing three times a day for three months. Plaque and gum bleeding fell in the African basil group and in the chlorhexidine group, with no statistically significant difference between them. With ten people per group and no independent repeat, it is an encouraging start, not proof.
Pereira SL, de Oliveira JW, Angelo KK, da Costa AM, Costa F. Pereira SL, de Oliveira JW, Angelo KK, da Costa AM, Costa F. Clinical effect of a mouth rinse containing Ocimum gratissimum on plaque and gingivitis control. J Contemp Dent Pract. 2011;12(5):350-355. PMID:22269195
Randomised controlled trial · 2016 · 15 participants
In a double-blind crossover trial from the same Brazilian group, 15 healthy volunteers stopped brushing for three days in each round and rinsed instead with a 10 per cent African basil solution, 0.12 per cent chlorhexidine or distilled water. Both active rinses held back new plaque better than water, a statistically significant difference, and chlorhexidine was better still, again a statistically significant difference. The trial is small and short and points to a mild antiplaque effect.
Pimenta MS, Lobo NS, Vieira VC, Costa AM, Costa FN, Pereira SL. Pimenta MS, Lobo NS, Vieira VC, Costa AM, Costa FN, Pereira SL. Effect of Ocimum gratissimum in mouthrinses on de novo plaque formation. A randomized clinical trial. Braz Dent J. 2016;27(6):646-651. doi:10.1590/0103-6440201601331
Animal study · 1999
In rats given castor oil to cause diarrhoea, a water extract of the leaves reduced the number of wet droppings and slowed the movement of gut contents. In isolated guinea-pig gut it had no direct effect but damped the response to acetylcholine, nicotine and histamine. It is an animal study that offers a possible mechanism for the folk use against diarrhoea, and it has not been tested in people.
Offiah VN, Chikwendu UA. Offiah VN, Chikwendu UA. Antidiarrhoeal effects of Ocimum gratissimum leaf extract in experimental animals. J Ethnopharmacol. 1999;68(1-3):327-330. doi:10.1016/s0378-8741(99)00100-2
Laboratory study · 1996
Microbiologists at Lagos State University tested leaf extracts against five bacteria that can cause diarrhoeal disease, among them Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Shigella dysenteriae. All five were inhibited, Shigella most strongly and Salmonella typhi least, at concentrations of 4 to 50 milligrams per millilitre. It is a test-tube result at fairly high concentrations, a laboratory rationale rather than a treatment.
Ilori M, Sheteolu AO, Omonigbehin EA, Adeneye AA. Ilori M, Sheteolu AO, Omonigbehin EA, Adeneye AA. Antidiarrhoeal activities of Ocimum gratissimum (Lamiaceae). J Diarrhoeal Dis Res. 1996;14(4):283-285. PMID:9203793
2005
In 2005 the EMA's herbal committee assessed the safety of methyleugenol, a natural constituent of many herbs, and listed Ocimum gratissimum shoots at 9,835 ppm. It classed methyleugenol as a genotoxic carcinogen in rodent studies, judged short-term use of herbal medicines by adults at the recommended dose not to pose a significant cancer risk, and asked that exposure of young children and of pregnant and breastfeeding women be kept to a minimum. This statement is the basis of the entry's caution about the concentrated oil.
European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Public statement on the use of herbal medicinal products containing methyleugenol Source

Usage

Forms and preparation

In West African kitchens the fresh leafy tops go straight into soups and stews with fish and meat, cooked like a vegetable, and their clove or thyme scent carries through the dish. Dried and powdered, the leaf seasons a range of other traditional dishes. As household remedies the leaf is brewed into an infusion, as for coughs in Togo and Cameroon, pressed for its juice, as for colds and headaches in Cameroon, or steeped in water, as in Benin against diarrhoea and colic. A wash or gargle of the leaf is used for a sore throat. Distilled, the leaves give an essential oil, 0.65 to 0.78 per cent of the plant material in a study from Benin. It is a concentrated product, not a kitchen ingredient. The oil has found its way into toothpastes, mouthwashes and wound dressings, and laboratory studies have tested it against stored-product pests and against egg-laying by the mosquito that spreads dengue. Because it concentrates the volatile compounds, methyleugenol and estragole included, handle it with the care due to any strong essential oil and keep it apart from the everyday use of the leaf.

Dosage

No dose has been established for any medicinal use, because no trial has defined one and no monograph sets one. In the kitchen African basil is used to taste, like other basils. As a household remedy the leaf is brewed or pressed as needed, not taken as a measured course. Treat concentrated extracts and the essential oil as a separate product, use them sparingly and follow the label. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, have a health condition or take regular medicines, avoid the concentrated oil and ask your doctor before using extracts.

Special populations

As a kitchen herb in ordinary amounts the leaf is part of everyday family cooking in West Africa. The concentrated oil is another matter. The EMA's herbal committee asks that young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women take in as little methyleugenol and estragole as possible, so avoid the oil and strong extracts at these times. Beyond this there are no rules for particular groups, because African basil is not a registered medicine.

Safety

Safety profile

African basil leaf is an everyday kitchen herb in West Africa, cooked in soups and stews, and there is no sign of harm from ordinary food amounts. There is no EMA monograph for it and therefore no official list of warnings. The advice below rests on the EMA's statements on methyleugenol and estragole and on animal studies of the oil. The caution belongs to the concentrated essential oil. The EMA's herbal committee lists Ocimum gratissimum among the plants that contain methyleugenol, and an oil of its synonym Ocimum suave was about two thirds methyleugenol. The committee classes methyleugenol and estragole as genotoxic carcinogens in rodent studies. It judged short-term use of herbal medicines by adults at the recommended dose not to pose a significant cancer risk, but asked that exposure of young children and of pregnant and breastfeeding women be kept to a minimum. So use concentrated oil sparingly and not as a daily habit, and do not use it in pregnancy, while breastfeeding or with young children. No medicinal dose has been established for any use, and if an unexpected symptom appears during heavy use of extracts or oil, stop and seek advice.

Drug interactions

No interaction studies in people exist. In a laboratory study with human liver enzymes, a methanol extract of the leaf blocked four drug-metabolising enzymes, CYP1A2, CYP2C8, CYP2C9 and CYP2C19, at low concentrations, and the authors recommend monitoring patients who combine the plant with drugs cleared by these enzymes. Whether a cup of tea or a seasoned dish reaches levels that matter is unknown. If you take regular medicines and want to use concentrated extracts or the oil, talk to your doctor or pharmacist first. The leaf in the cooking pot is not a concern.

Contraindications

As a kitchen herb the leaf has no known contraindications. It is a food, not a registered herbal medicine, so no official list exists. If you are allergic to basil or other mint-family herbs, avoid African basil as well. In pregnancy, while breastfeeding and in young children, avoid the concentrated essential oil and oil-based preparations, because the EMA's herbal committee asks that these groups take in as little methyleugenol and estragole as possible. The leaf in normal food amounts is ordinary food. Do not take the concentrated essential oil internally as a daily habit or in large amounts. Some oils of this species are rich in methyleugenol, and in rats and mice the oil was toxic in proportion to the dose.

Side effects

No undesirable effects are known from the leaf in ordinary kitchen amounts. As with any mint-family herb, allergic reactions are possible. The concerns lie with the concentrated oil. In rats and mice it caused drowsiness in proportion to the dose, and a month of repeated injections in rats set off an inflammatory response that turned chronic. Its constituents of most concern, methyleugenol and estragole, are long-term genotoxic hazards rather than causes of immediate side effects, which is why concentrated oil and long-term high intake are best avoided. If anything unusual happens while you use an extract or the oil, stop and ask a doctor.

Look-alikes

Botany

Family

Lamiaceae

Native regions

Tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar (Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, South Africa), native, Southern Asia (India, Vietnam), native, Introduced in Brazil, the Caribbean (Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad), Mexico, Hawaii and other Pacific islands

Harvest window

Leaves picked as needed. Aerial parts for essential oil are cut before or at full flowering, and the oil changes with growth stage and time of day.

Habitat

African basil is native to a wide belt of the Old World tropics, from tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar to India and South-East Asia, according to Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants. It has been introduced to Brazil, to Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad and other Caribbean islands, to Mexico, and to Hawaii and other Pacific islands. In West Africa it is an everyday plant, easy to come by and grown close to home for the kitchen.

Identification & foraging

A much-branched aromatic shrub, woody at the base, with the square stems of every mint-family plant. The leaves sit in opposite pairs, oval and toothed, and give off a strong smell of clove or thyme when crushed. The small pale flowers stand in slender spikes, and their anthers stick out well beyond the short lower lip, even more than in holy basil. The parts used are the leaves and leafy tops. The most reliable field test is your nose, because sweet basil smells softer and more of aniseed.

Similar plants and look-alikes

Unpleasant

Holy Basil / Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum, syn. Ocimum sanctum)

Holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum) is the Tulsi of Hindu households and Ayurveda, a separate species. The confusion lies in the names. In India African basil is usually called Vana Tulsi, forest Tulsi, and sometimes Ram Tulsi, while Rama Tulsi is also the name of the common green form of holy basil. A 2018 DNA study of Tulsi plants and products found that the name Vana Tulsi is used for more than one basil species. The rich devotional and Ayurvedic Tulsi record belongs to holy basil, so check the botanical name whenever a tradition or a chemical profile matters.

Read the entry: Holy Basil

Unpleasant

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is the kitchen basil of pesto and Mediterranean cooking, a separate species. Its scent is softer and often aniseed-like, carried by linalool and methyl chavicol, the compound regulators call estragole. African basil smells sharper, of clove or thyme, from eugenol or thymol. At first glance the two look alike, so trust your nose and the botanical name. Sweet basil oil can also be rich in estragole, so the same care with concentrated oil applies to both.

FAQs

What part of African basil is used, and what is it used for?

The leaves and leafy tops, fresh or dried, and the essential oil distilled from them. In West Africa the fresh leaf goes into soups and stews with fish and meat, and dried, powdered leaf seasons other dishes. The same leaf is brewed or pressed as a household remedy for fever, colds, cough and diarrhoea, and used as a wash for a sore throat. These are kitchen and folk uses, not proven treatments.

Why does African basil not always smell the same?

Because its essential oil comes in several chemical types. Some plants are dominated by eugenol and smell of clove, others by thymol and p-cymene and lean towards thyme, and some give oils rich in methyleugenol. In Benin the same plants even gave a different oil depending on whether they were cut at seven in the morning or in the afternoon. In the kitchen this simply means tasting before you season. For anything made from the oil, the chemical analysis is what counts.

Is African basil the same as sweet basil or holy basil (Tulsi)?

No. All three are separate species of the genus Ocimum. African basil is Ocimum gratissimum, also called clove basil or scent leaf. Sweet basil is Ocimum basilicum, the basil of pesto. Holy basil or Tulsi is Ocimum tenuiflorum (syn. Ocimum sanctum), the sacred plant of India. The names overlap because in India African basil goes by Vana Tulsi and sometimes Ram Tulsi.

Is African basil approved in the EU for any health use?

No. In the EU African basil is not a registered herbal medicine. The European Medicines Agency has no monograph for it, and no health claim has been authorised for it. It does appear in an EMA document, but on the safety side. The statement of the agency's herbal committee on methyleugenol lists it among the plants that contain this compound.

Is there clinical evidence that African basil works?

A little, mostly for the mouth and the skin. Two small Brazilian trials tested a mouth rinse made with African basil. Over three months it reduced plaque and gum bleeding in a group of ten people about as well as chlorhexidine, with no statistically significant difference, and in a three-day test with 15 volunteers it slowed new plaque, though less well than chlorhexidine. From Nigeria come preliminary clinical tests in 2002 that applied skin preparations of the oil against acne. A 2003 review of controlled trials lists them among the trials that reported results equivalent to conventional acne treatment, while judging most of those trials methodologically weak. For the leaf tea against colds, cough or diarrhoea there are no human trials, and the antioxidant, antimicrobial and blood-sugar results you may read about come from cell cultures and animals. A 2021 review calls for human trials to establish effective and safe doses.

Is African basil safe, and what about the essential oil?

The leaf is eaten every day in West African kitchens, and kitchen amounts are not what regulators worry about. Their concern is the concentrated essential oil. Some oils of this species are rich in methyleugenol, and the EMA's herbal committee classes methyleugenol and estragole as genotoxic carcinogens in rodent studies. In rats, a month of repeated injections of the oil set off an inflammatory response that turned chronic. So use concentrated oil sparingly and never as a daily habit, and avoid it in pregnancy, while breastfeeding and with young children.

Can it be used in pregnancy or by children?

As a kitchen herb in ordinary food amounts, the leaf is part of everyday family cooking in West Africa. The concentrated essential oil is another matter. The EMA's herbal committee asks that exposure of young children and of pregnant and breastfeeding women to methyleugenol and estragole be kept to a minimum, so avoid the oil, oil-based preparations and strong extracts at these times. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or have a health condition, ask your doctor before using any concentrated preparation.

How old and how widespread is the tradition of African basil?

Broad rather than ancient, at least on paper. The plant is native from tropical Africa to India and South-East Asia, and its kitchen and folk use is best documented in West Africa, with records from Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, Benin and Côte d'Ivoire, and further uses in Kenya. Linnaeus named the species in 1753, but most written accounts of its use are twentieth-century ethnobotany. Household use is older, but it was handed down by word of mouth rather than in dated texts.

References

19 sources.

Ugbogu OC, Emmanuel O, Agi GO, Ibe C, Ekweogu CN, Ude VC, Uche ME, Nnanna RO, Ugbogu EA. Ugbogu OC, Emmanuel O, Agi GO, Ibe C, Ekweogu CN, Ude VC, Uche ME, Nnanna RO, Ugbogu EA. A review on the traditional uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacological activities of clove basil (Ocimum gratissimum L.). Heliyon. 2021;7(11):e08404.. 2021. doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08404
Ilori M, Sheteolu AO, Omonigbehin EA, Adeneye AA. Ilori M, Sheteolu AO, Omonigbehin EA, Adeneye AA. Antidiarrhoeal activities of Ocimum gratissimum (Lamiaceae). J Diarrhoeal Dis Res. 1996;14(4):283-285.. 1996. PMID:9203793
Offiah VN, Chikwendu UA. Offiah VN, Chikwendu UA. Antidiarrhoeal effects of Ocimum gratissimum leaf extract in experimental animals. J Ethnopharmacol. 1999;68(1-3):327-330.. 1999. doi:10.1016/s0378-8741(99)00100-2
Pereira SL, de Oliveira JW, Angelo KK, da Costa AM, Costa F. Pereira SL, de Oliveira JW, Angelo KK, da Costa AM, Costa F. Clinical effect of a mouth rinse containing Ocimum gratissimum on plaque and gingivitis control. J Contemp Dent Pract. 2011;12(5):350-355.. 2011. PMID:22269195
Pimenta MS, Lobo NS, Vieira VC, Costa AM, Costa FN, Pereira SL. Pimenta MS, Lobo NS, Vieira VC, Costa AM, Costa FN, Pereira SL. Effect of Ocimum gratissimum in mouthrinses on de novo plaque formation. A randomized clinical trial. Braz Dent J. 2016;27(6):646-651.. 2016. doi:10.1590/0103-6440201601331
Orafidiya LO, Agbani EO, Iwalewa EO, Adelusola KA, Oyedapo OO. Orafidiya LO, Agbani EO, Iwalewa EO, Adelusola KA, Oyedapo OO. Studies on the acute and sub-chronic toxicity of the essential oil of Ocimum gratissimum L. leaf. Phytomedicine. 2004;11(1):71-76.. 2004. doi:10.1078/0944-7113-00317
Amaeze O, Eng H, Horlbogen L, Varma MVS, Slitt A. Amaeze O, Eng H, Horlbogen L, Varma MVS, Slitt A. Cytochrome P450 enzyme inhibition and herb-drug interaction potential of medicinal plant extracts used for management of diabetes in Nigeria. Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet. 2021;46(3):437-450.. 2021. doi:10.1007/s13318-021-00685-1
Kpadonou Kpoviessi BG, Ladekan EY, Kpoviessi DS, Gbaguidi F, Yehouenou B, Quetin-Leclercq J, Figueredo G, Moudachirou M, Accrombessi GC. Kpadonou Kpoviessi BG, Ladekan EY, Kpoviessi DS, et al. Chemical variation of essential oil constituents of Ocimum gratissimum L. from Benin, and impact on antimicrobial properties and toxicity against Artemia salina Leach. Chem Biodivers. 2012;9(1):139-150.. 2012. doi:10.1002/cbdv.201100194
Pino Benitez N, Melendez Leon EM, Stashenko EE. Pino Benitez N, Melendez Leon EM, Stashenko EE. Eugenol and methyl eugenol chemotypes of essential oil of species Ocimum gratissimum L. and Ocimum campechianum Mill. from Colombia. J Chromatogr Sci. 2009;47(9):800-803.. 2009. doi:10.1093/chromsci/47.9.800
Jürges G, Sahi V, Rios Rodriguez D, Reich E, Bhamra S, Howard C, Slater A, Nick P. Jürges G, Sahi V, Rios Rodriguez D, et al. Product authenticity versus globalisation, the Tulsi case. PLoS One. 2018;13(11):e0207763.. 2018. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0207763
Odongo EA, Mutai PC, Amugune BK, Mungai NN. Odongo EA, Mutai PC, Amugune BK, Mungai NN. A systematic review of medicinal plants of Kenya used in the management of bacterial infections. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2022;2022:9089360.. 2022. doi:10.1155/2022/9089360
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