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iNat·83257SpeciesPlantae2,209 field observations
  1. Plants
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  6. ›Mint Family
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  9. ›Ociminae
  10. ›Ocimum
wild sweet basil
Plate 1 of 4. (c) Alex Popovkin, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Alex Popovkin · via iNaturalist

wild sweet basil

Ocimum campechianum

Ocimum campechianum is a plant species in the family Lamiaceae, widespread across Mexico, Central America, South America, the West Indies, and Florida.

Leaves of Ocimum campechianum are eaten in Brazil's Amazon jungle. Similar to basil, it has a pungent flavor and contains essential oils which have been used ethnomedicinally. In Amazonia, the aromatic leaves are used as an admixture in ayahuasca brews. The plant is known as albahaca in Mexico and called xkakaltun in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where it is considered a honey plant and is used as an abortifacient. It is referred to in Brazil as alfavaca and has also been referred to as albahaca del monte, Amazonian basil, wild sweet basil, wild mosquito plant, least basil, Peruvian basil, spice basil, alfavaca-do-campo, manjericao and estoraque.

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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Every page naming Ocimum campechianum in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 83257.