List of basil cultivars

List of basil cultivars

This list of basil cultivars is a comprehensive list of cultivated varieties (cultivars) of basil. Each is used as a culinary herb. Several are also used as decorative plants. All true basils are species of genus "Ocimum". The genus is particularly diverse, and includes annuals, non-woody perennials and shrubs native to Africa and other tropical and subtropical regions of the Old and New World.cite web
title=Basil: An Herb Society of America Guide
url=http://www.herbsociety.org/basil/bdesc.php
publisher=Herb Society of America
accessdate=2006-12-30
] Although there are an estimated 50 to 150 species of basil,cite conference
url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1990/V1-484.html
author=Simon, J.E., J. Quinn, and R.G. Murray
date=1990
title=Basil: A source of essential oils
pages=p. 484-489
editor=J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.)
booktitle=Advances in new crops
publisher=Timber Press, Portland, OR.
] [The Herb Garden, in the United States National Arboretum, showcases some 25 varieties of basil every year. The Herb Garden was a gift to the United States from the Herb Society of America.] most, but not all culinary basils are cultivars of "O. basilicum" - sweet basil. Some are cultivars of other basil species, and others are hybrids. It is particularly challenging to determine which species a basil belongs to. This is because basil cross-breeds easily, and drawing boundaries between species is particularly difficult. In fact, recent studies have led to reclassification of some portions of the genus. [cite conference
author=Paton, Alan, R.M. Harley and M.M. Harley
year=1999
title=Ocimum: an overview of classification and relationships
booktitle=Basil: the genus Ocimum
editor=Edited by Raimo Hiltunen and Yvonne Holm
publisher=Australia: Harwood Academic Publishers
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nhF71j9doqsC
]

Basil cultivars vary in several ways. Visually, the size and shape of the leaves varies greatly, from the large lettuce-like leaves of the "Mammoth basil" and "Lettuce leaf basil" to the tiny leaves of the "Dwarf bush basil". More practically, the fragrance of the basil varies due to the varying types and quantities of essential oils contained in the plants. The most important are 1,8 cineol, linalool, citral, methyl chavicol (estragole), eugenol and methyl cinnamate, although hardly any basil contains all of these in any significant amount.

References

General references


* cite journal
title=Basil for the Gardener's Kitchen: Herb of the Year, 2003
journal=The Herbarist
volume=69
date=2003
author=Madalene Hill and Gwen Barclay
pages=43

* cite book
author=Helen H. Darrah
date=1980
title=The cultivated basils
publisher=T. E. Thomas, Buckeye Printing Co.
id=ASIN B0006E2MDS

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