Ocimum tenuiflorumL.

holy basil

WFO wfo-0000253537 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Navaneeth Sini George
fig. a Navaneeth Sini George, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-17 / obs. 173737266
Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Navaneeth Sini George
fig. b Navaneeth Sini George, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 106830816
Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Sabarni Sarker
fig. c Sabarni Sarker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 96921924
Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Amaljit Bharali
fig. d Amaljit Bharali, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 98213241
Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Manoj Karingamadathil
fig. e Manoj Karingamadathil, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 66166405
Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Abu Hamas
fig. f Abu Hamas, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 54115694
Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Manoj Karingamadathil
fig. g Manoj Karingamadathil, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 46900249
Ocimum tenuiflorum, photographed by Manoj Karingamadathil
fig. h Manoj Karingamadathil, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 43407778

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 35 botanical countries

Regions where Ocimum tenuiflorum is native: China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Taiwan, Andaman Is., Assam, Bangladesh, Bismarck Archipelago, Borneo, Cambodia, East Himalaya, India, Jawa, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Maluku, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicobar Is., Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Is., South China Sea, Sri Lanka, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Thailand, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Queensland, Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Vanuatu China South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanTaiwanAssamBangladeshBismarck ArchipelagoBorneoCambodiaEast HimalayaIndiaJawaLaosLesser Sunda Is.MalukuMyanmarNepalNew GuineaPakistanPhilippinesSolomon Is.Sri LankaSulawesiSumateraThailandVietnamWest HimalayaQueensland Andaman Is.Nicobar Is.South China SeaCaroline Is.MarianasMarshall Is.Vanuatu
Native distribution of Ocimum tenuiflorum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Andaman Is. AND ASIA-TROPICAL
Assam ASS
Bangladesh BAN
Bismarck Archipelago BIS
Borneo BOR
Cambodia CBD
East Himalaya EHM
India IND
Jawa JAW
Laos LAO
Lesser Sunda Is. LSI
Maluku MOL
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
New Guinea NWG
Nicobar Is. NCB
Pakistan PAK
Philippines PHI
Solomon Is. SOL
South China Sea SCS
Sri Lanka SRL
Sulawesi SUL
Sumatera SUM
Thailand THA
Vietnam VIE
West Himalaya WHM
China South-Central CHC ASIA-TEMPERATE
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Taiwan TAI
Caroline Is. CRL PACIFIC
Marianas MRN
Marshall Is. MRS
Vanuatu VAN
Queensland QLD AUSTRALASIA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 523 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 9.4 °C 19.5 °C 24.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 28.5 °C 33.8 °C 40.7 °C
Annual rainfall 684 mm 1,561 mm 3,414 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 5 mm 41 mm 289 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 523 research-grade observations of Ocimum tenuiflorum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 16 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Geniosporum tenuiflorum (L.) Merr.
  • Lumnitzera tenuiflora (L.) Spreng.
  • Moschosma tenuiflora (L.) Heynh.
  • Ocimum flexuosum Blanco
  • Ocimum hirsutum Benth.
  • Ocimum inodorum Burm.f.
  • Ocimum monachorum L.
  • Ocimum sanctum L.
  • Ocimum sanctum var. cubensis Gomes
  • Ocimum sanctum var. hirsutum (Benth.) Hook.f.
  • Ocimum scutellarioides Willd. ex Benth.
  • Ocimum subserratum B.Heyne ex Hook.f.
  • Ocimum tenuiflorum f. villicaulis Domin
  • Ocimum tomentosum Lam.
  • Ocimum villosum Roxb.
  • Plectranthus monachorum (L.) Spreng.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.