PLATE 325. 
OciMUM SUAVE, Willd. (Fl. Trop. Afr., Vol. V., p. 338). 
Natural Order, Labiatae. 
A much brauclied peret nial iindersbrnb, 18 inches to 4 feet high, bearing 
numerous white flowers, which are sometimes tinged with pink. Stems and 
Ijranches quadrangular, densely pilose, the hairs jointed. Leaves opposite, petiolate, 
exstipulate, ovato-attenuate, margins crenato-serrate ; 2 to 4 inches long, 2 to 4^ 
inches wide, pubescent on both suffaces, with jointed hairs ; petioles ^ to 1 inch 
long, pilose like the stems and branches, and with similar hairs. Racemes densely 
panicled, axillary nnd terminal, reaching to 6 inches or mure long, peduncles, 
pedicels, and calj'x densely pilose and glandular. Calyx gamosepalous, when in 
fruit ^ inch long, tube campanulate, uppei- lobe orbicular, as long as the tube, and 
decurrent on it, lateral ones minute, subulate, two lower ones connate nearly to 
apex, pilose and glandular externally. Bracts ovate, acuminate, pilos>.- and 
glandular. Corolla gamopetalous, a little longer than the calyx, tube sliort, limb 
bilabiate, upper lip shortly 4-lobed, lower ovate, reflexed. Stamens didynamous, 
declinate, inserted on corolla tube, exserted, the two upper ones toothed above the 
base; anthers l-celhd. Ovary superior, 4-lobe(l, 4-seeded ; style filiform, 2-fid, 
proceeding from the centre of the ovai'ian lobes. Disk cup-like, toothed. Seeds 
small, brown, sub-globose, shining, rugulose. 
Habitat: Natal: Near Durban, 150 feet alt., March, TFoo^/, No. 1812; Zulu- 
land, near Eshowe, 1,500 feet alt., April, Wood, No. 3975. 
Drawn ana described from specimens gatheted near Durban, 500 feet alt., 
May, Wood, No. 9040. 
The genus Ocinmm include^s about GO species, natives of the warm regions of 
both hemispheres. Of these 43 are found in Tropical Afric-i, and 8 or 10 in South 
Africa. Some of the species rs 0. baniliciirn (Basil) are used in cookery, and others 
are used medicinally. One s.jecies, 0. riride, a native of Tropical Africa and Asia, 
has lately come prominently into notice on account of its supposed value in repel- 
ling mosquito'^^s, and it is at least possible that the plant here described may have 
similar properties. The whole plant is thickly gland-dotted, and powerfully scented 
even when dry, and flies placed in a bottle with a few capsules of this plant were 
soon killed, while flies placed in a similar bottle at the same time were liberated 
three hours afterwards without suffering at all from their imprisonment. Plants 
will be reared here for- experiment during the summer months. The natives use 
the plant in perfumery, and call it u-Qabukulu. 
Fig. 1 , flower ; 2, bract ; 3, jointed hair ; 4, corolla opened ; 5, stamens ; 6, 
disk and pistil ; 7, calyx opened ; all enlarged. 
