Investigations on Morphological, Biochemical and Molecular Variability of Ocimum L. Species

SUMMARY

The genus Ocimum L. contains several species which are important economic and medicinal plants. The most important are O. basilicum L., O. americanum L. and their hybrid O. xcitriodorum Vis., which are used for essential oil production and as potherbs. Until now, the complex relationships between these species and their high intraspecific variability in morphological and biochemical characters were not well understood. The morphological differentiation of these species is very difficult. For an unambiguous communication about cultivated basils it is necessary to analyze an extensive sample with a combination of morphological, karyotypic, chemical and molecular markers.

KEYWORDS:

• Ocimum
• basil
• spice
• medicinal plant
• essential oil
• chemotaxonomy
• molecular biology
• morphology