o C I 
ceous, ovate, each with a bilocular nut, with two or 
three kernels in each cell. Seeds unequal, flat, fcarcely 
membranous at the fummit. Juflieu refers this genus to 
his natural order apocineae, before Tabernremontana, to 
which and to Rauwolfia he efteems it nearly allied. 
OCHROX'YLUM, f. O*po> Gr. pale wood.] In 
botany, a genus of the cial's pentandria, order trigynia. 
Generic characters—Calyx: perianthiurn five-cleft, very 
fmall, permanent: fegments ovate, acute, fpreading a 
little. Corolla : petals five, ovate, reflex, bluntilh, ex¬ 
cavated below the tip, thickifh with a thinner margin. 
Nedtary an annular gland, lubtrilobate, fleftiy. Stamina : 
filaments five, awl-ffiaped, flattilh below, ere£t, a little 
longer than the corolla. Antherae roundilh, incumbent. 
Piftillum : germs three, placed on the neftary, outwardly 
gibbous; ftyles ffiort; ftigmas fimple. Pericarpium: 
capfules three, approximating, lubglobular, inwardly 
comprefied, placed on the lobes of the neftary, now be¬ 
come larger and three-lobed, one-celled, opening on the 
infide. Seeds two, convex on one fide, comprefied and 
angular on the other.—■ Effential Charatter. Calyx five- 
cleft ; petals five ; neftary an annular three-lobed gland ; 
capfules three, approximating, one-celled, two-feeded. 
This genus is known only from Schreber, who had 
originally called it Curtifia, in commemoration of the 
well-known botanift of that name; but, but upon find¬ 
ing the fame honour had previoufly been conferred on 
Mr. Curtis in the Hortus Kewenfis, Schreber changed 
the name to Ochroxylum ; but we are not aware that he 
ever published an account of the fpecies ; neither is any 
thing known concerning it but what we find above. 
O'CHRUS. See Pisum. 
OCH'SENBERG, a town of Wirtemberg: twelve 
miles weft of Heilbron. 
OCH'SENFURT, a town of the duchy of Wurzburg: 
eight miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Wurzburg, and eighteen 
north-north-weft of Ahfpach. Lat. 49. 4. N. Ion 10. 6. E. 
OCH'SENHAUSEN, a town of Germany, near which 
is a princely abbey, founded as a priory, in the year 
1100, but railed to an abbey in the year 1391 : fourteen 
miles louth of Ulm, and forty weft-fouth-weft of Augf- 
burg. 
OCH'SENKOPF. See Fichtelburg, vol. vii. 
OCH'SENWERDER, an ifland in the Elbe, about 
eight miles long and four wide, on which are feveral vil¬ 
lages : four miles fouth-eaft of Hamburg. 
OCH'TEE, a river which runs into the Wefer about 
eight miles below Bremen. 
OCH'TROP, a town of Germany, in the biffiopric of 
Munfter : twenty-one miles north-north-weft of Munfter. 
O'CHUS, the name of two kings of Persia. See that 
article. 
OCI'ER, a town of the ifland of Sardinia: twenty- 
eight miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Salfari. 
OC'IMUM, f. [derivation uncertain.] Sweet Basil ; 
in botany, a genus of the clafs didynamia, order gym- 
nofpermia, natural order of verticillatae, (iabiatae, Juff.) 
Generic characters—Calyx : perianthiurn one-leaved, 
two-lipped, very fliort, permanent: upper lip flat, orbi- 
culate, wider, afcending: lower lip four-cleft, acute, 
converging. Corolla: one-petalled, ringent, refupine: 
tube very fliort, fpreading; one lip turned upwards, 
wider, half-four-cleft, blunt, equal: the other lip turned 
downwards, narrower, entire, ferrate, longer. Stamina: 
filaments four, declined; two a little longer, and two 
putting forth a reflex procefs at the bale. Antherae half- 
mooned. Piftillum: germ four-parted; ftyle filiform, 
fituation and length of the ftamens; ftigma bifid. Peri¬ 
carpium none. Calyx clofedjcheriftiingthe feeds. Seeds 
four, ovate. Effential Charaher. Calyx with the upper 
lip orbiculate, the lower four-cleft; corolla refupine, 
with one lip four-cleft, the other undivided; filaments, 
the two outer putting forth a reflex procefs at the bafe. 
1. Ocimunt thyrfiflorum, or thyrfe-flowered bafil : 
flowers panicle-fafcicled; ftem very much branched. 
Vol. XVII. No. 1185. 
O C I 389 
Stem ereCl:, woody, a foot and a half high, the whole 
fubdivided into branches, brachiate or panicled with 
round branchlets, channelled on both fides. Leaves pe- 
tioled, eliiptic-lanceolate, green on both fides, naked, 
flightly ferrate, quite entire at the bafe, fcarcely rugged 
at the keel, acuminate. Panicles of the branches termi¬ 
nating, brachiate, clofe or cluftered, fcarcely longer than 
the leaves, from whorled purple branches. Bradtes lan¬ 
ceolate, purple, with the upper lip ovate. Corollas pur¬ 
ple, pale on the outfide, with the lower lip white ; fta¬ 
mens w'hite; piftils purple. It differs from the reft in 
being more branched like a flirub, in the leaves being 
green and more lafting, with the fmell of rue, and the 
flowers fafcicled in a thyrfe. Native of the Eaft Indies. 
2. Ocimum monachorum, or monk’s bafil: ftamens 
toothlefs, the alternate ones bearded at the bafe. Stem 
ereft, a foot high, roundifli, fomewhat hairy. This is 
an annual plant; but its native place is unknown. 
3. Ocimum gratilfimum, or ihrubby bafil: ftem fulfru- 
ticofe, leaves lanceolate-ovate, racemes round. Stem 
fuffruticofe, five feet high. Flowers fmall ; corollas 
white with yellow antherae. Native of the Eaft Indies. 
According to Loureiro, it is cultivated in Cochin-china 
for the kitchen. 
4. Ocimum album, or white bafil : leaves ovate, blunt, 
whorls of the racemes approximating, the mature ones 
four-cornered, corolla crenate. Stem a foot high, greea- 
ifli white, woody at the bafe. Leaves broader and thicker 
than in the other forts, concave, bluntly ferrate. It is 
an annual plant ; native of the Eaft Indies and the ifland 
of java. 
5. Ocimum verticillatum, or whorled bafil: leaves 
ovate, blunt; raceme elongated, naked; flowers whorled 
in fours, peduncle:!. Stem a foot high ; the flowers in 
whorls like the Hottonia. Native of the Cane of Good 
Hope. 
6. Ocimum bafilicum, great bafil, or common fweet 
bafil: leaves ovate fmooth, calyxes ciliate. Stem fuf¬ 
fruticofe, three feet high, erect, round, tomentofe ; with 
ftraight afcending branches. Leaves fomewhat acute, 
ferrate, pubefeent, brownifii red, waived, petioled, fmel- 
ling like cloves. Flowers white, fmall, in lo.ng upright 
terminating fpiked racemes ; calyxes hairy, brafted, pe- 
duncled. 
a.. O. majus, the great bafil, rifes with a branching 
ftalk a foot and a half high ; hairy and four-cornered, 
.terminated by a whorled fpike of flowers, five or fix inches 
long. The whole plant has a ftrong feent of cloves. Of 
this there are the following varieties : 1. Purple fringe¬ 
leaved. 2. Green fringe-leaved. 3. Green with ftudded 
leaves. 4. Large-leaved bafil. 
( 3 . O. medium, the common bafil, ufed in medicine, 
and alfo in the kitchen, efpecially in French cookery, 
rifes about ten inches high, fending out oppofite four- 
cornered branches from the very bottom. Leaves 
ovate-lanceolate, ending in acute points, indented on 
their edges. The whole plant is hairy, and has a ftrong 
’ feent of cloves too powerful for moft perfons, but to forr.e 
very agreeable. The varieties are: 1. Common bafii, 
with very dark green leaves and violet-coloured flowers. 
2. Curled-leaved bafil, with fliort fpikes of flowers. 3. 
Narrow-leaved bafil, fmelling like fennel. 4. Middle 
bafil, with a feent of citron. 5. Bafil with ftudded leaves, 
6. Bafil with leaves of three colours. There are many 
other varieties, differing in the fize, ffiape, odour, and 
colour of the leaves, in Europe, but efpecially in the Eaft; 
where bafil is not only ufed in cookery, but the herb is 
accounted good in the head-ach, and wandering rheu¬ 
matic pains; and the feeds are reckoned very efficacious 
againft the poilon of ferpents, both taken inwardly and 
laid upon the wound. It was cultivated by Gerard in 
1596. 
7. Ocimum minimum, little or buffi bafil: leaves ovate, 
quite entire. The leaft bafil is a low buffiy plant, feldom 
more than fix inches high, branching from the bottom, 
5 G and 
