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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
BETA-SANTALENE 2 Essential Oil *
BETA-SELINENE 3 Plant *
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Flower 1051.0 -0.81 *
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Leaf 790.0 1705.0 -0.16 *
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Root 408.0 -0.27 *
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Seed 527.0 -0.43 *
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Sprout Seedling 230.0 -1.10 *
BETA-SITOSTEROL 47 Stem 845.0 0.24 *
BETA-TERPINENE 0 Leaf Essent. Oil 28000.0 *
BETA-THUJONE 5 Plant *
BETAPELEMENE 0 Plant 12.0 Die Nahrung. Pino, J., Rosado, A., Goire, I., Roncal, E., and Garcia, I. 1993. Analysis of the Essential Oil from Cuban Basil. Die Nahrung 37:(5): 501-504.
BORNEOL 35 Essential Oil 1200.0 -0.90 *
BORNEOL 70 Plant 3.0 -0.67 Die Nahrung. Pino, J., Rosado, A., Goire, I., Roncal, E., and Garcia, I. 1993. Analysis of the Essential Oil from Cuban Basil. Die Nahrung 37:(5): 501-504.
BORNEOL 35 Shoot Essent. Oil 1200.0 -0.79 *
BORNEOL-ACETATE 0 Essential Oil 5200.0 90000.0 0.20 *
BORNEOL-ACETATE 0 Leaf Essent. Oil 10000.0 14400.0 -0.47 *
BORNEOL-ACETATE 0 Plant 90.0 900.0 *
BORNEOL-ACETATE 0 Shoot Essent. Oil 4700.0 -1.00 *
BORON 4 Plant 18.0 31.0 -0.49 Betting on Boron, Unpublished draft by J. A. Duke on file at USDA, draft and papers relating to boron percentages. Includes Internat. Z. Vit. Ern. Forschung 43:1973 (boron).
BUTYRIC-ACID 6 Essential Oil *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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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
Antibacterial 52 Revista Itiliana Eppos, 12: 5, 1994.
Antiberiberi 1 *
AntiBPH 1 *
Antibronchitic 4 Martindale's 28th
Antiburn 1 Iwu, M.M. 1993. Handbook of African Medicinal Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 435 pp.
Anticancer 14 *
Anticancer (Breast) 1 Madhavi, D. L., Bomser, J., Smith, M., Singletary, K. 1998. Isolation of Bioactive Constituents from Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry) Fruits and Cell Cultures. Plant Sci., 131(1): 95-103.
Anticancer (Cervix) 2 Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of the Tropics. Leeuwenberg, A.J.M., ed. Pudoc, Wageningen. 1987.
Anticancer (Colon) 1 Ringbom, T., Seguar, L., Noreen, Y., Perera, P., Bohlin, L. 1998. Ursolic Acid from Plantago major, a Selective Inhibitor of Cyclooxygenase-2 Catalyzed Prostaglandin Biosynthesis. J. Nat. Prod., 61(10): 1212-1215.
Anticancer (Lung) 2 *
Anticancer (Pancreas) 2 *
Anticancer (Prostate) 1 *
Anticanker 3 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Anticapillary-Fragility 6 Wichtl, M. 1984. Teedrogen. Ein Handbuch fur Apotheker und Arzte. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellscharft. mbH Stuttgart. 393 pp.
Anticarcinogenic 3 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 189.
Anticarcinomic 5 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Anticarcinomic (Breast) 1 Medline (post 1990 searches filed in my computer)
Anticarcinomic (Colon) 1 *
Anticarcinomic (Lung) 1 *
Anticardiospasmic 1 *