702 Flora of the Mcdayan Peninsula. 



2. OciMUM Basilicum, Linn. Sp. PL 597 (1753). An erect branching 

 herb, 2 to 3 ft. high. Stems and branches usually green, sometimes 

 purplish, glabrous or more or less hispidly hairy. Leaves opposite, 

 membranous, green or purplish, variously pubescent, in extreme forms 

 quite glabrous, in others strongly hispidly hairy, ovate-acute ; base 

 cuneate, entire ; margin elsewhere entire or toothed or occasionally (in 

 cultivated forms) deeply lobed ; 1 to 2 in. long, -6 to 1-2 in. wide, 

 occasionally, in cultivated varieties, larger ; petiole "5 to 1 in. long. 

 Flotvers in rather dense racemes of whorls, the terminal raceme ulti- 

 mately 6 to 8 in. long, much exceeding the lateral, rarely (var. thyrsoidea) 

 with all the racemes subequal, forming a terminal thyrse ; bracts ovate- 

 acute, petiolate. Calyx -2 in. (in fruit -35 in.) long ; pedicels very short ; 

 lower lip with central pair of teeth longer than the upper lip, which is 

 orbicular, longer than the campanulate tube. Corolla "35 to "5 in. long, 

 variously white or pink or purplish, nearly or quite glabrous to 

 pubescent or (var. ciliata) hispidulous. Filaments shortly exserted ; the 

 upper ones with a tooth above the base. Nutlets -07 in. long, ellipsoid, 

 pitted. Wall. Gat. 2713 ; Hook. f. El. Br. Ind. IV. 608. 



Peeak: Wrayl Pbnang: Wallichl Malacca. Perhaps only culti- 

 vated in our area. — Disteib. Throughout Tropics of Eastern Hemi- 

 sphere and Polynesia. 



The presence of this species in Malacca is recorded by Sir J. D. Hooker (Fl. Br. 

 Ind. l. c), but there are not now any Malacca specimens at Kew. In Penang it has 

 only been collected by Wallich ; his plant is a glabrous form never met with in India 

 save in gardens. No complete specimens have been sent from Perak, but Wray 

 records the species, under the name "Ruku," as an adulterant of Patchouli. 

 "Ruku" is, however, the Malay name for Hyptis graveolens, which is one of the usual 

 adulterants of Patchouli leaves, though the writer finds that samples of "Euku" 

 do contain, mixed with the leaves and calyces of Hyptis graveolens, calyces of 

 0. Basilicum. The particular variety met with in these samples being var. pilosum, 

 there is just a possibility that in Perak this may sometimes occur as an escape from 

 cultivation. 



3. OciMUM GEATissiMUM, Linn. Sp. PI. 1197 (1753). A shrubby, 

 much-branched perennial, 4 to 6 ft. high, woody at the base. Stems 

 glabrous ; young branches pubescent. Leaves opposite, chartaceous, 

 pubescent, elliptic-lanceolate, acute ; base cuneate, entire ; margin else- 

 where coarsely crenate-serrate ; 2*5 to 5 in. long, 1-5 to 2-25 in. wide ; 

 petiole 1 to 2-5 in. long, slender, pubescent. Floioers in simple or 

 branched, strict, slender racemes ; whorls rather close ; rachis softly 

 pubescent ; bracts sessile, acuminate from a wide ovate base, exceeding 

 the calyx, decussate and squarrose in young racemes. Calyx -12 in. (in 

 fruit "25 in.) long, pubescent, glandular ; pedicels very short, softly 



