types of basil

types of basil

Helen Marie Hilsman Darrah has classified basil into several types, and Helen is an academic and herbalist author, and the classification has resulted in seven different types

• Tall slender types: including sweet basil.
• Large-leafed, robust types: including lettuce leaf basil and Italian basil.
• Dwarf types: are short with small leaves such as Bush basil.
• Dense species: is called Thai basil.
• Purpurascens: are sweetly flavored.
• Purple species such as garnet or dark opal, a hybrid blend between O. basilicum and O. forskolei, which has pointed leaves, with sweet basil that has the smell of cloves.
• Citriodorum types, which have lemon-like tastes.

Others classify basil according to the smell it emits, some species may look similar but have different smells, but others have similar smells, and the species is classified by smells as follows

• Sweet basil: includes types such as sweet, genoa, large-leaf, and mammoth.
• Purple foliage basils: includes garnet or dark basil, and purple toothed basil.
• Lemon basils: includes scented lemons, lemons and sweet Dani.
• Other types include cinnamon basil, spicy bush, eucalyptus, anise and liquorice.

The most famous types of basil

Basilicum is the most common species, and there are more than 150 types of basil, the most famous of which are mentioned:

The most famous types of basil used in decorations

The following types are among the most popular types of basil used as garnishes:

• Greek Basil: This type of annual ornamental plant is grown in spring and summer in a sunny place on the balconies in light soil or sand well-drained, with a plant up to one meter long, its leaves are ornate, and it is resistant to drought, a purple plant with pale pink flowers.
• Thai Basil: An annual plant, approximately 50 cm long, with small leaves and purple stems, lavender or white flowers, it emits a sweet anise, is frequently used for cooking and contains eucalyptus-rich oils.
• Camphor Basil: This type features grey silver oval leaves, more than a metre long, not like traditional basil, but it is an ornamental shrub.
• Cinnamon Basil: This species features bright, toothy dark green leaves with purple veins, produces small pink flowers, emits an aromatic scent, needs to be exposed to sunlight for a relatively long time, ranging from 6 to 8 hours a day, has a spicy taste, and is used in the preparation of tea, baked goods, biscuits, pancakes, pasta, salads, jelly and vinegar.
• French basil: This species has a sweet accent, dark green leaves and is good for drying.

The most popular types of basil used in foods

The following types are among the most popular types used in the kitchen and foods

• Holy Basil: This species is aromatic and lives only for a short time, and its response to frost is high, it features small purple flowers, thin green oval leaves, its purple stems cover small bristles, its fruits are brown, and it emits an aromatic smell similar to anise or cloves, and it should be noted that holy basil is used in cooking, tea making, salads, and cultivating it around temples in India.
• American Basil: American Basil is grown annually, with smooth leaves with a light or dark green color, white or pink flowers that smell like cloves, taste like anise, and taste depends on the age of the leaves, It is approximately 75 cm long, and it is worth noting the use of American basil in cooking, green salads, meat, pasta, tomato dishes, pizza, pesto sauce, and eggs, usually picked before flowering, and grown in well-drained soil, it is worth noting that bees much prefer this species for pollination.
• Bush Basil: This species has a mild taste compared to sweet basil, is used for cooking, leaves and flowers are eaten fresh or dried, smells like cloves, its extract is used to make mosquito repellent, herbal drugs to treat digestive problems and nausea, gas repellent, as well as the possibility of soaking it and then using it later to make sherbet tokhum.

For more information about How to grow mint, you can read the article How to grow mint

The most famous types of commercial basil

The most prominent commercial types of basil can be mentioned in a table as follows:

Red Rubin basil

This species is distinguished by its purple stems and leaves, and lavender-colored flowers.

To learn more about basil and how to grow it, you can read how to grow basil

Basil

Basil belongs to the genus Ocimum of Lamiaceae family, and is generally known as basil, and basil is an annual plant, mean that live a short life, but may live longer when taken care of, usually grown to take advantage of its leaves and use it as aromatic herbs. Basil has a thick root and smooth oval leaves, ranging in length from approximately 3 to 11 cm, and width from approximately 1 to 6 cm as it begins to branch from the middle of the stem, small white flowers grow on top of the plant, and the length or height of basil ranges from approximately 30 to 130 cm.

Basil is known for its great diversity of antiquity, used in the manufacture of essential oils and aromatherapy compounds or perfumes, and used as a cooking herb, and ornamental plants., and Africa continent has a large number of species, on the other hand there are more than 30 species from herbs and shrubs in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, central and South America. Basil extracts are used in traditional medicines, pesticides, fungicides and antimicrobials, and belong to most commercial species traded in the market to Ocimum basilicum.