From Sturtevant's Edible Plants Of The World
by E. Lewis Sturtevant
Ocimum
basilicum Linn.
Labiatæ
Sweet Basil
Western and tropical Asia.
A fragrant and aromatic
plant of tropical Asia, which, as a
culinary plant, has been celebrated from a very early period. Mclntosh
says it was condemned by Chrysippus more than 200 years before Christ
as an enemy to the sight and a robber of the wits.
Diodorus and
Hollerus entertained
equally superstitious
notions regarding it. Philistis,
Plistonicus and others extolled its virtues and recommended it as
strongly as it had been formerly condemned. Pliny says the Romans sowed
the seeds of this plant with maledictions and ill words, believing the
more it was cursed the better it would prosper; and when
they wished for a
crop, they trod it
down with their feet
and prayed to the gods that it might not vegetate. It seems to have
been first cultivated in Britain in 1548 and is now
valued for the leaves and leafy tops, which are much employed for
seasoning soups, stews, sauces and various other
dishes. It reached America
before 1806 as it is
then mentioned
by McMahon as a well-known
plant. Sweet basil seeds, according
to Miss Bird, are eaten in Japan.
O. gratissimum
Linn.
East Indies. This species is
recorded as indigenous in India, the South Sea Islands and
Brazil. According to Loureiro, it occurs in the kitchen
gardens of Cochin China. It was cultivated in England in 1752 by a Mr.
Miller. Forskal gives as the Arabic name, hobokbok. In French gardens,
this plant is called basilic
en arbre. Vilmorin thinks, however, that
the French form may be the O.
suave Willd., but of this he is not
certain.
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