Holy Basil

Holy Basil (Tulsi/Tulasi) or its scientific name, Ocimum tenuiflorum, was originally found in the country of Iran, India and other tropical environments in Asia more than 5,000 years ago. Basil comes with varieties of types where each and every one of them has their own unique smell, flavor and health benefits. Holy Basil is an aromatic plant from the same species of Lamiaceae which can be found throughout the ‘Old World’ forests. It is an erect, sub-shrub with lots of branched, hairy stems, green leaves with strong scent. It is also able to grow as tall as 30cm and up to 60cm. Its leaves have petioles, and are ovate, up to 5 cm long, usually slightly toothed, while its flowers are purplish in lengthen racemes in close whorls.

Holy Basil is an aromatic plant

The Holy Basil is also used for religious and medicinal purposes like the one used in Ayurveda which is a traditional medicinal of India, and plays an important role within the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism where their devotees will perform their worship relating to the Tulsi plants or leaves. The holy basil has a sweet clove-like fragrance and because of the herb’s usage in religious practice, it is not used as ingredient in the Indian food cuisine. It has been a sacred plant for the Hindu religion and can be found in the surrounding temples or house since 3000 years ago. In the Hindu religion, they believed that the green-leaved holy basil represents one of their Gods, Laskmi, while the purple-leaved represents as Lord Krishna. Apart for being used for religious purposes, the holy basil is also has endless list of medicinal values and even to some extent the Indians believe that even by just being close to the plant can protect the person from being infected by any kind of diseases.

The Holy Basil with Purple Leaves

Some of the health benefits of the holy basil include its remedial in taking care of fever in India because it is an excellent plant that produces antibiotic, germicidal, fungicidal and disinfectant properties. Therefore, it is a potent herb in providing defense against the infection of protozoa, bacteria, viruses and even allergic substances and fungus thus enabling it to work excellently in preventing fever from occurring. Besides that, the holy basil essential oils are also rich in components such as Camphene, Eugenol and Cineole which are the main ingredients that can relieve congestion, other respiratory disorders, severe lung disorders due to smoking tuberculosis or lung cancer.

It also has the ability to mobilize mucus and eliminate cough infection and this can achieved by simply crushing the holy basil leaves and mix it with honey and it is ready for consumption whenever you feel the urge of coughing. Besides that, it is also good for helping patient who has bronchitis and asthma. Sore throat can also be cured by using the holy basil leaf by just boiling some of the leaves in water and drink it when it is lukewarm and also gargled the water inside your mouth to relief yourself from the sore throat infection.