Code
OCICA
Biological Type
broadleaf
Life Form
annual
Habitat
terrestrial
OCICA
Biological Type
broadleaf
Life Form
annual
Habitat
terrestrial
🗒 Synonyms
| synonym | Becium obovatum var. glabrior (Benth.) Cufod. |
| synonym | Ocimum album Roxb. |
| synonym | Ocimum americanum var. americanum |
| synonym | Ocimum brachiatum Blume |
| synonym | Ocimum canum Sims |
| synonym | Ocimum canum var. integrifolium Engl. |
| synonym | Ocimum dichotomum Hochst. ex Benth. |
| synonym | Ocimum dinteri Briq. |
| synonym | Ocimum fluminense Vell. |
| synonym | Ocimum fruticulosum Burch. |
| synonym | Ocimum hispidulum Schumach. & Thonn. |
| synonym | Ocimum incanescens Mart. |
| synonym | Ocimum serpyllifolium var. glabrior Benth. |
| synonym | Ocimum serpyllifolium var. glabrius Benth. |
| synonym | Ocimum stamineum Sims |
| synonym | Ocimum thymoides Baker |
🗒 Common Names
| Anglais / English |
|
| Comorian |
|
| Créole Maurice |
|
| Créole Seychelles |
|
| French |
|
| Malgache |
|
| Other |
|
📚 Overview
Description
Cotyledons
Cotyledons are suborbicular, with notched top. The leaf blade is 4 mm, it is slightly wider than long. It is carried by a long petiole, 3 mm.
First Leaves
The first leaves are simple and opposite. They are distinctly stalked. The lamina is oval lanceolate. The apex and base are acute and the margin is marked with thin spaced tines. The leaves give off a strong aromatic smell.
Growth habit
The plant had an erect growth habit. The plant may be heavily branched, forming a small bush. It measures 20 to 40 cm in height.
Underground System
Taproot.
Stem
The stem is solid and quadrangular. The corners are rounded and the 4 surfaces are depressed. The stem is covered with a short pubescence.
Leaf
The leaves are simple and opposite. They are decussately arranged along the stem. They are carried by a stalk, 1 to 3 cm long. The lamina is oval lanceolate. It is 4 to 6 cm long and 15 to 20 mm wide. The apex and base are acute. The margin has 5-7 slightly marked tines, in the upper two thirds of the leaf blade. Both sides are nearly glabrous. The lower face is riddled with small green translucent glands.
Inflorescence
The flowers are assembled into small layered whorls in the upper part of the axis, forming spike-like inflorescences of 5 to 15 cm long. Whorls are separated by 10 to 12 mm from each other. Each of them consist of 4 to 6 flowers.
Flower
The flowers are spread at the time of flowering then folded at maturity. The calyx consists of two lips of different size and shape. The upper lip is orbicular, slightly emarginate at the top and measuring 3 mm in diameter. The lower lip is orbicular and ended with four triangular tines. It is narrower than the preceding and 4 mm long. It has a long pubescent. The corolla slightly exceeds the calyx. It is tubular, formed of two lips. The upper lip ends with 4 short rounded lobes. The lower lip is entire, broad, rounded. The outer side of the corolla is hairy. 4 stamens are grouped in pairs of different size, greatly exceeding the top of the corolla. The stigma is bifid at the top and largely exceeds the corolla. At the base of the style are 4 free ovaries.
Fruit
The fruit is a capsule that remains at the bottom of the calyx. Each contains a seed.
Seed
The seed is elliptical, with a rounded top. It measures 1 mm long and 0.7 mm wide. The seed coat is smooth and brown.
Global description
Ocimum americanum is a small erect plant, with a strong aromatic smell. It has simple, opposite and decussate leaves, along a square stem, lanceolate oval in shape. White flowers, in tube, are grouped at the base of the leaves.Cotyledons
Cotyledons are suborbicular, with notched top. The leaf blade is 4 mm, it is slightly wider than long. It is carried by a long petiole, 3 mm.
First Leaves
The first leaves are simple and opposite. They are distinctly stalked. The lamina is oval lanceolate. The apex and base are acute and the margin is marked with thin spaced tines. The leaves give off a strong aromatic smell.
Growth habit
The plant had an erect growth habit. The plant may be heavily branched, forming a small bush. It measures 20 to 40 cm in height.
Underground System
Taproot.
Stem
The stem is solid and quadrangular. The corners are rounded and the 4 surfaces are depressed. The stem is covered with a short pubescence.
Leaf
The leaves are simple and opposite. They are decussately arranged along the stem. They are carried by a stalk, 1 to 3 cm long. The lamina is oval lanceolate. It is 4 to 6 cm long and 15 to 20 mm wide. The apex and base are acute. The margin has 5-7 slightly marked tines, in the upper two thirds of the leaf blade. Both sides are nearly glabrous. The lower face is riddled with small green translucent glands.
Inflorescence
The flowers are assembled into small layered whorls in the upper part of the axis, forming spike-like inflorescences of 5 to 15 cm long. Whorls are separated by 10 to 12 mm from each other. Each of them consist of 4 to 6 flowers.
Flower
The flowers are spread at the time of flowering then folded at maturity. The calyx consists of two lips of different size and shape. The upper lip is orbicular, slightly emarginate at the top and measuring 3 mm in diameter. The lower lip is orbicular and ended with four triangular tines. It is narrower than the preceding and 4 mm long. It has a long pubescent. The corolla slightly exceeds the calyx. It is tubular, formed of two lips. The upper lip ends with 4 short rounded lobes. The lower lip is entire, broad, rounded. The outer side of the corolla is hairy. 4 stamens are grouped in pairs of different size, greatly exceeding the top of the corolla. The stigma is bifid at the top and largely exceeds the corolla. At the base of the style are 4 free ovaries.
Fruit
The fruit is a capsule that remains at the bottom of the calyx. Each contains a seed.
Seed
The seed is elliptical, with a rounded top. It measures 1 mm long and 0.7 mm wide. The seed coat is smooth and brown.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
📚 Nomenclature and Classification
No Data
📚 Natural History
Life Cycle
Life cycle
Annual
Northern Cameroon: Ocimum americanum germinates in June, when the rains are regular and that the soil has sufficient water. The germination is of short duration (1-2 weeks). Flowering occurs as from July, followed by fruiting in August. It ends at the beginning of the dry season (November) with drying of the plant.
Mayotte: Ocimum americanum flowers and fruits all year round.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
Reproduction
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
Ocimum americanum is an annual species. It multiplies only by seed.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
Morphology
Growth form
Erected
Leaf arrangement
Opposite
Leaf type
Simple
Type of prefoliation
Leaf ratio medium
Equality of opposite leaves
Opposite leaves equal
Latex
Without latex
Stem section
Square
Root type
Taproot
Hollow or solid stem
Solid stem
Stipule type
No stipule
Leaf attachment type
with petiole
Fruit type
Capsule
Cotyledon type
cordate
Lamina base
rounded
attenuate
Lamina margin
largely dentate
Lamina apex
acute
Upperface pilosity
Glabrous
Lowerface pilosity
Glabrous
Lowerface hair type
Glands
Simple leaf type
Lamina elliptic
Lamina section
flat
Lamina Veination
pennate
Flower color
White
Inflorescence type
Spike
Glomerulate
Stem pilosity
Dense hairy
Stem hair type
Pubescent
Life form
Broadleaf plant
Look Alikes
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
| Prostrate growth habit | Lamium amplexicaule | |||
| Erect growth habit | Stalk with four clear edge | Stalk with concave faces | Leonotis nepetifolia | |
| Light grooves on the stalk | Hyptis pectinata | |||
| Stalk with four rounded angles | Longitudinal furrow marked on the faces of the stalk | Palmate lobed leaf | Leonurus sibiricus | |
| Elliptic leaf | Leucas lavandulifolia | |||
| Stalk with depressed faces and oval lanceolate leaf | Lamina finely serrated towards the top | Hyptis spicigera | ||
| lamina with strongly serrated margin | Leucas martinicensis | |||
| Tines slightly marked | Ocimum americanum | |||
| plant of 1 to 2 m | inflorescence in panicle | Hyptis pectinata | |
| inflorescence in axillary glomerulus | Leonotis nepetifolia | ||
| plant of 1 m (ou moins) | Palmate lobed leaves | Leonurus sibiricus | |
| Elliptic leaves | Leucas lavandulifolia | ||
| Oval leaves | lamina with strongly serrated margin | Leucas martinicensis | |
| lamina finely serrated towards the top | Hyptis spicigera | ||
| plant of 20 to 40 cm | Erect growth habit | Ocimum americanum | |
| Prostrate growth habit | Lamium amplexicaule | ||
| inflorescence in panicle | Hyptis pectinata | ||
| inflorescence in terminal spike | dense spike | Hyptis spicigera | |
| Loose spike | Ocimum americanum | ||
| inflorescence in axillary glomerulus | Large orange flower | Leonotis nepetifolia | |
| White flower | glabrous petals | Leucas martinicensis | |
| petals covered with white hairs | Leucas lavandulifolia | ||
| inflorescence in whorl | White flower | Leucas lavandulifolia | |
| pink to purple flower | 10 to 25 flower per whorl | Leonurus sibiricus | |
| 5 à 10 fleurs par whorl | Lamium amplexicaule | ||
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
Ecology
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
Northern Cameroon: Ocimum americanum is a ruderal species that grows in humid marshland and areas of household discharge near villages. This is an infrequent weed. It grows on silty clay wet soils as the alluvium along water streams, vertisols of floodplains and planosols. It is found from the Sahelo-Sudanese regions to Sudanese regions. This species resents competition from other species and repetitive weeding. Moreover, it is very sensitive to herbicides. It occurs most often on the edge of land in vegetable crops or traditional lowland rice fields.
Comoros: Species present along the roads, especially in areas of low altitude in the three islands.
Madagascar: Species characteristic of humid lowlands or temporarily flooded during the rainy season (often fertile soil: alluvial soils, vertisols, ferruginous hydromorphic soils) in hot area of low elevation. It grows in quite late cultures to become dominant in the mid or end of the cycle, in fallow or bare soil after the withdrawal of flood waters.
Mauritius: plant grown along roadsides, rock gardens, fallow. It is present in Port Louis and the River des Galets.
Mayotte: Ocimum americanum is a cryptogenic species with two forms. The typical form is spontaneous in secondarized habitats, crops, wastelands, hydromorphic soils, villages, degraded forests, from the xerophilic coast to the heights. The form "pilosum" is cultivated for its condiment and medicinal uses and is also found in a spontaneous state in the same environments.
Reunion: Absent.
Seychelles: Present in clearings and abandoned places, rarely abundant.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
No Data
📚 Habitat and Distribution
General Habitat
Habitat
Terrestrial
Description
Geographical distibution
Madagascar
Comoros
Mauritius
Seychelles
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
World distribution
Ocimum americanum is present throughout tropical Africa.
Ocimum americanum is present throughout tropical Africa.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
No Data
📚 Occurrence
No Data
📚 Demography and Conservation
Risk Statement
Local harmfulness
Comoros: Ocimum americanum is a weed with minor harmfulness in the plantations of manioc and in wastelands.
Madagascar: Its frequency is relatively small but it often forms a dense stand and can be harmful for late planted crops (or crops have suffered from a problem of temporary engorgement): cotton, late cowpea.
Mauritius: This species is not a problem for crops.
Reunion: Absent.
Seychelles: Low harmfulness.
Comoros: Ocimum americanum is a weed with minor harmfulness in the plantations of manioc and in wastelands.
Madagascar: Its frequency is relatively small but it often forms a dense stand and can be harmful for late planted crops (or crops have suffered from a problem of temporary engorgement): cotton, late cowpea.
Mauritius: This species is not a problem for crops.
Reunion: Absent.
Seychelles: Low harmfulness.
Wiktrop
| Attributions | Wiktrop |
| Contributors | |
| Status | UNDER_CREATION |
| Licenses | CC_BY |
| References |
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
📚 Uses and Management
Uses
There is content in another language. Please click here to read it. (Français)
No Data
📚 Information Listing
References
- Le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241p.
- Berhaut J., 1967. Flore du Sénégal. 2ème éd. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 485p.
- Berhaut J., 1975b. Flore illustrée du Sénégal. Tome 4. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 625 p.
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1963. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. II. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 544p.
- Le Bourgeois, T., A. Carrara, M. Dodet, W. Dogley, A. Gaungoo, P. Grard, Y. Ibrahim, E. Jeuffrault, G. Lebreton, P. Poilecot, J. Prosperi, J. A. Randriamampianina, A. P. Andrianaivo and F. Théveny (2008). Advent-OI : Principales adventices des îles du sud-ouest de l'Océan Indien. Cirad. Montpellier, France, Cirad.
- Grard, P., T. Le Bourgeois and H. Merlier (2010). Adventrop V.1.5 Les adventices d'Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Montpellier, France, Cirad.
- Barthelat, F. 2019. La Flore illustrée de Mayotte. Meze, Paris, France, Collection Inventaires et Biodiversité, Biotope – Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. 487 p.
- Djibo A. K. 2000. Analyse des huiles essentielles de quelques plantes de la flore du Burkina Faso appartenant aux familles des Lamicaeae et des Poaceae. Thèse de doctorat. Université de Ouagadougou.
- Menut C. et Valet G. (1985). Etude de la composition chimique de l'huile essentielle d'une plante aromatique cultivée au Cameroun : Ocimum gratissimum, Ann. fac. Sc. Biol. Biochim. III, N° 3,91-95
- Oliver-Bever B. (1986). Medicinal plants in tropical west Africa, pt Ed, Cambridge University Press, London.
Information Listing > References
- Le Bourgeois Th., 1993. Les mauvaises herbes dans la rotation cotonnière au Nord-Cameroun (Afrique) - Amplitude d'habitat et degré d'infestation - Cycle de développement. Thèse USTL Montpellier II, Montpellier, France, 241p.
- Berhaut J., 1967. Flore du Sénégal. 2ème éd. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 485p.
- Berhaut J., 1975b. Flore illustrée du Sénégal. Tome 4. Clairafrique éd., Dakar, Sénégal, 625 p.
- Hutchinson J., Dalziel J. M., Keay R. W. J. & Hepper F. N., 1963. Flora of West Tropical Africa. Vol. II. 2ème éd. The Whitefriars Press ed., London & Tonbridge, 544p.
- Le Bourgeois, T., A. Carrara, M. Dodet, W. Dogley, A. Gaungoo, P. Grard, Y. Ibrahim, E. Jeuffrault, G. Lebreton, P. Poilecot, J. Prosperi, J. A. Randriamampianina, A. P. Andrianaivo and F. Théveny (2008). Advent-OI : Principales adventices des îles du sud-ouest de l'Océan Indien. Cirad. Montpellier, France, Cirad.
- Grard, P., T. Le Bourgeois and H. Merlier (2010). Adventrop V.1.5 Les adventices d'Afrique soudano-sahélienne. Montpellier, France, Cirad.
- Barthelat, F. 2019. La Flore illustrée de Mayotte. Meze, Paris, France, Collection Inventaires et Biodiversité, Biotope – Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. 487 p.
- Djibo A. K. 2000. Analyse des huiles essentielles de quelques plantes de la flore du Burkina Faso appartenant aux familles des Lamicaeae et des Poaceae. Thèse de doctorat. Université de Ouagadougou.
- Menut C. et Valet G. (1985). Etude de la composition chimique de l'huile essentielle d'une plante aromatique cultivée au Cameroun : Ocimum gratissimum, Ann. fac. Sc. Biol. Biochim. III, N° 3,91-95
- Oliver-Bever B. (1986). Medicinal plants in tropical west Africa, pt Ed, Cambridge University Press, London.
No Data
🐾 Taxonomy
| Root | Root |
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Tracheophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Lamiales |
| Family | Lamiaceae |
| Genus | Ocimum |
| Species | Ocimum americanum L. |
📊 Temporal Distribution
📷 Related Observations
