Tulsi (Holy Basil)

Ocimum tenuiflorum, commonly known as tulasi, tulsi, or holy basil, is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae.[2][3] It is widely cultivated throughout the Southeast Asian tropics.[1][4][5] It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Australia and the western Pacific.[1] This plant has escaped from cultivation and has naturalized in many tropical regions of the Americas.[3][6] It is an agricultural and environmental weed.[3] Tulasi is cultivated for religious and traditional medicine purposes, and also for its essential oil. It is widely used as an herbal tea, commonly used in Ayurveda. It has a place within the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism, in which devotees perform worship involving the plant or its leaves. Morphology Holy basil is an erect, many-branched subshrub, 30–60 cm (12–24 in) tall with hairy stems. Leaves are green or purple; they are simple, petioled, with an ovate blade up to 5 cm (2 in) long, which usually has a slightly toothed margin; they are strongly scented and have a decussate phyllotaxy. The purplish flowers are placed in close whorls on elongated racemes.[7] The three main morphotypes cultivated in India and Nepal are Ram tulsi (the most common type, with broad bright green leaves that are slightly sweet), the less common purplish green-leaved (Krishna or Shyama tulsi) and the common wild vana tulsi (e.g., Ocimum gratissimum).[8]