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Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Ocimum basilicum

Ocimum basilicum (Lamiaceae)

Common Names
Basil; Sweet Basil; Cuban Basil
How this plant is used
Food

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View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
CAFFEIC-ACID 102 Leaf 19100.0 1.93 *
CAFFEIC-ACID 102 Tissue Culture *
CAFFEIC-ACID-N-BUTYL-ESTER 0 Leaf 252.0 *
CALAMENE 0 Plant *
CALAMENENE 0 Shoot Essent. Oil 600.0 *
CALCIUM 28 Leaf 3200.0 23700.0 0.36 *
CAMPESTEROL 2 Leaf 90.0 -0.38 Spiller, G. A. 1996 (Spiller, G. A. Ed. 1996. CRC Handbook of Lipids in Human Nutrition. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 233 pp.)
CAMPHENE 9 Essential Oil 900.0 -0.67 *
CAMPHENE 9 Leaf Essent. Oil 300.0 900.0 -0.85 *
CAMPHENE 9 Plant 0.0 400.0 0.08 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
CAMPHENE 9 Shoot Essent. Oil 500.0 -0.81 *
CAMPHOR 41 Essential Oil 2100.0 7200.0 -1.19 *
CAMPHOR 41 Leaf Essent. Oil 10000.0 -0.78 *
CAMPHOR 41 Plant 2.0 31.0 -0.64 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
CAMPHOR 41 Shoot Essent. Oil 4500.0 -1.00 *
CAPROIC-ACID 1 Essential Oil *
CARBOHYDRATE 0 Leaf 70000.0 652000.0 0.15 *
CARBOHYDRATES 0 Leaf 70000.0 610000.0 -0.01 *
CARVACROL 37 Plant *
CARVACROL 37 Shoot Essent. Oil 6800.0 -0.72 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
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List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Psychoactive 2 R.J. Hixtable (Huxtable, R.J. (as T. Max). 1992. This and That:The Essential Pharmacology of Herbs and Spices. Tips 13:15-20 Huxtable, R.J. 1992b. The Myth of Benficent Nature. The Risk of Herbal Preparations. Anns. Intern. Med. 117(2):165-6; Huxtable, R.
Psychotropic 1 Uchida, U., Ohta, H., Niwa, M., Mori, A., Nonaka, G-i., Nishioka, I., and Zaki, M. 1989. Prolongation of Life Span of Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHRSP) Ingesting Persimmon Tannin. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 38(4): 1049-1052, 1990.
PTK-Inhibitor 3 *
Quinone-Reductase-Inducer 4 Uda, Y., Price, K. R., Williamson, G., Rhodes, M. J. C. 1997. Induction of the Anticarcinogenic Marker Enzyme, Quinone Reductase, in Murine Hepatoma Cells In Vitro by Flavonoids. Cancer Lett., 120 (2): 213-216.
Radioprotective 4 *
Refrigerant 1 Yamamoto, A., Umemori, S., and Muranishi, S. 1993. Absorption Enhancement of Intrapulmonary Administered Insulin by Various Absorption Enhancers and Protease Inhibitors in Rats. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 46: 14-18, 1994.
Renoirritant 1 Newall, C. A., Anderson, L. A. and Phillipson, J. D. 1996. Herbal Medicine - A Guide for Health-care Professionals. The Pharmaceutical Press, London. 296pp.
Respirainhibitor 1 Merck 11th Edition
Respirastimulant 1 Huang, K. C. 1993. The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 388 pp.
Roborant 1 Merck 11th Edition
Rubefacient 4 *
Schizophrenigenic 1 Davies, S., and Stewart, A. 1990. Nutritional Medicine. Avon Books, New York. 509pp.
Secretogogue 2 Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
Secretolytic 2 Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
Sedative 31 Ortiz de Urbina, A.V., Martin*, M.L., Montero, M.J., Moran, A., and San Roman, L. 1988. Sedating and Antipyretic Activity of the Essential Oil of Calamintha sylvatica subsp. Ascendens. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 25: 165-171, 1989.
Serotoninergic 2 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Soap 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Sodium-Sparing 1 Iwu, M.M. 1993. Handbook of African Medicinal Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 435 pp.
Spasmogenic 6 Fitoterapia No.59-1984.
Spasmolytic 1 *