Ocimum AMERICANUM L.
| Synonym : | Ocimum album Roxb. Ocimum brachiatum Blume Ocimum fruticulosum Burch. Ocimum hispidulum Schumach. & Thonn. |
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| Bangla Name : | Ban Tulsi. ,Nung, Nung Aprou (Marma |
| English Name : | Hoary Basil, Rosary Basil. |
| Family : | Lamiaceae |
| Disease : | Carminative, diaphoretic, stimulant, cold, coughs, catarrh, bronchitis, dysentery , toothache, migraine, fever, skin diseases, indigestion and diarrhea. |
| Description : | An annual aromatic much-branched herb, 15 - 60 cm high. Leaves 2.5-3.8 cm long, elliptic-lanceolate, acute at both ends. Flowers small, white, in rather close whorls, in spiciform racemes, up to 20 cm long. Nutlets 1.25 mm long, ellipsoid, black. Using information: The plant is carminative, diaphoretic and stimulant, used in cold, coughs, catarrh and bronchitis, Leaf juice is used for dysentery and as a mouth-wash for relieving toothache, poured into nostrils for migraine. Decoction of the leaf is used for checking nose bleeding and malarial fever. Leaf paste is used as a cure for parasitical skin diseases. Tea or infusion of the leaf is used in fever, indigestion and diarrhoea. Dried plant is burnt as mosquito repellant. Essential oil of the leaves and inflorescences possesses strong antifungal and antibacterial properties (Begum et al., 1999). |
| Distribution : | Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Sherpur, on road sides and fallow lands. |
| Chemical Constituents : | Aerial parts yield an essential oil, which contains camphor and linalool (major constituents), citronellal, methylcinnamate, citronellic acid, eugenol, citronellol, geraniol, citral and methylheptenone. On fractionation the oil yields dipentene, terpinole |
| Uses : | The plant is carminative, diaphoretic and stimulant, used in cold, coughs, catarrh and bronchitis, Leaf juice is used for dysentery and as a mouth-wash for relieving toothache, poured into nostrils for migraine. Decoction of the leaf is used for checking |
| Habit : | Herb |