This is for informational purposes only. For medical advice or diagnosis, consult a professional.
🐝🦋 Popular pollinator attractor
🛡️Bring indoors during Winter
▷ IDENTIFICATION🔍
Common Name: Thai Basil
Botanical Name: Ocimum basilicum var. thyrsiflora
Family: Mint family (Lamiaceae)
Fragrant annual, biennial, or perennial tropical herbaceous shrub for Zones 9 to 11
PRECAUTION: Contains low thujone content. May interact with medications. Not appropriate for all, consider consulting a doctor first. See section “ADDITIONAL INFORMATION > Animal Toxicity and Medicine Interactions”.
❗Children, pregnant, or breastfeeding: This plant may be harmful if used internally for young children, pregnant, or breastfeeding people. Research or speak with a healthcare professional. 🚼
▷ OTHER NAMES & LOOKALIKES 🏷️
Other Names 🏷️
◦ Purple Basil
◦ Asian Sweet Basil
◦ Siam Queen Basil
◦ Bai Horapa (โหรพา, pronounced ho-ra-pa) in Thailand
◦ Rau Húng quế (pronounced hoong kwe) in Vietnam
◦ Chheur Sombouk (ជីរសម្បុក , pronounced chii ruos saphuk) in Cambodia
◦ Selasih Thai (pronounced se-la-si tai) in Malaysia
◦ Kemangi Thailand (pronounced ke-mang-gi tai-lan) in Indonesia
◦ Tài guó luó lè, (泰国罗勒, pronounced tai guo luo le) in China
Lookalikes 🔎
◦ Holy basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum): Also known as tulsi, it has smaller leaves and a fuzzy stem, and a sweet taste with a slight spice.
◦ Cinnamon Basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Cinnamon’): Also known as Mexican Spice Basil, this basil has a strong cinnamon smell and purple flowers, with stems and flowers both lighter in color than Thai basil.
◦ Cardinal Basil (Ocimum basilicum ‘Cardinal’): A Thai Basil with dense, red blooms and a rich, spicy fragrance.
▷ APPEARANCE 🪞
Plant Description🌿🗒️
Aromatic shrub with a beautiful scent, excellent for attracting pollinators. Edible green are sometimes purple-tinged, shiny, 1″ to 2″ length, narrow in shape, with slightly toothed margin edges. Leaves are arranged opposite on purple or red-purple square stems. Flowers are small, tubular, two-lipped, dark volet when forming and deep magenta when fully blossomed, appearing in small clusters as whorls on spike-like inflorescence.
Dimensions, Root Depth, and Spacing 📏↔️
Height: 12″ to 20″
Width: 12″ to 15″
Root Depth: May reach 8″ to 12″ deep; Ideal minimum container size 7 gallon or 8 gallons. Larger containers allow plants to grow taller and wider!
Spacing: 18″ apart
Flower Season and Fruit or Seed 🌻🍎🫘
Flower: Fragrant, dark violet to deep magenta clusters of flowers appearing along tall inflorescence
Seed: Tiny black seeds, 2.7 millimeters length and 1.5 millimeters width
▷ REPRODUCTION🌱
Sexuality: Hermaphrodite
Pollination: Pollinated by bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects
Growth Rate: Fast
Propagation:
◦ Layering: Select a thick stem that is long enough to lay in nearby container of soil. Remove leaves from the middle section of the stem, this part of the stem will be planted carefully and directly into the soil while still attached to the plant. Water as is necessary to keep soil consistently moist, especially during the Summer. Roots should form on the buried stem in a month, and may thereafter be cut and replanted into individual pots.
◦ Roots: Not relevant
◦ Cuttings: Plant cuttings that are ⅜” to ½” diameter (the wider the stem, the higher percentage of success) and 4″ to 6″ tall. Add cuttings to water and change the water every day for 1 month until roots form, later planting in soil in a container, or propagate by planting in soil during the Spring. Protect the new plant by placing it in partial sun or under a grow light until it has matured, avoiding direct sun.
Seed Germination: When soaked for 15 minutes, seeds develop a gel coating. Soil pH 6.5 to 7.5 at preferably 70°F to 85°F, kept moist, however not wet or dry. Plant seed ⅛” deep, emerges 5 to 14 days after being sown. Germination rate of 80% to 91% (depending on producer).
Indoor Planting: Grow plant for 1 year prior to transplanting outside 12 to 14 weeks after last frost date.
Outdoor Planting: Plant seed 10 weeks prior to last frost date.
▷ REQUIREMENTS❤️
Sunlight, Water, Fertilizer, and Pruning ☀️💧✂️
Sunlight: 6 hours to 12 hours of full sun; The more sun, the better!
Note: Avoid aerial watering, which encourages fungal growth and disease.
Thai basil is intolerant of overwatering, which may cause wilting or root rot.
Outdoor Watering: Water regularly during Summer (every 2 to 4 days) and less frequently in the Winter (1 to 3 times per month, more often if a warm climate). K-cup seed starters need water every day during Summer and every 2 days during Winter. Small pots require watering more often, especially if exposed to full sun, while large pots and shaded pots need less water.
Indoor Watering: Deep and infrequent, allowing for soil to dry on the top layer prior to more water.
Drought Resistance: Tolerates some drought once established.
Fertilizer: At the start of the growing season, apply fertilizer every 4 weeks to 6 weeks. Scatter evenly at the base of plants, avoiding clumps of fertilizer and preventing contact with stalks and stems. Large clumps of fertilizer won’t evenly supplement nutrients into the entire soil surface after it mixes with water from rain or irrigation. Fertilizer clumps around the base of plants make cause the main stalk to rot or have contact burns, which could damage or kill the plant. Do not throw fertilizer over plant tops, as the clumps of fertilizer caught in between leaf nodes and on foliage may either burn or rot the foliage.
Pruning: Avoid pruning during Winter as it may kill the plant. This same rule applies for the Fall in northern climates. Remove withered flowers, dead leaves, and leggy stems to enhance plant’s appearance. This also promotes new stems to appear with more leaves and flowers.
Soil, Planting, and Environment 🌄🏞️🏜️
Soil: Prefers moist, well-drained loam. Intolerable of wet soil. Tolerates poor laterite to rich loam, and in mildly acidic, neutral, and mildly alkaline soils.
pH: 6.0 to 7.5
Planting: When planting a potted plant, dig a hole that’s as deep as the pot and as wide as the root base. For plants with wide roots, dig a hole that is twice the width of the pot and gently space out the root system and then cover with soil to promote healthy growth. Burying tangled roots could cause health issues or stunted growth. The soil should be gently pressed in or watered in to fill the air pockets, preventing soil from collapsing in when watering or raining. Unplanted roots add to the stress of plants and could cause health problems or diseases. Cover every root with soil and smooth the soil’s surface.
Habitat: Native to Southeast Asia and may be found growing wild in tropical and subtropical regions.
Temperature Preference and Temperature Tolerance🌡️
Temperature: Prefers 65°F to 85°F; Mulch roots to retain water and prevent evaporation.
Heat Tolerance: 90°F; Above 90°F may damage the plant, stop growth, or cause it to bolt. To prevent stress, shade the plant, mulch it, and help it adjust to temperature changes. Tolerates some drought once established.
Cold Tolerance: 50°F; Colder than 40°F may damage the leaves. Once cold weather arrives, optionally harvest the entire plant if it won’t be brought indoors before frost kills the plant.
Salt, Wind, and Pollution Tolerance 🧂💨 ☣️
Salt Tolerance: Low tolerance
Wind Tolerance: Low tolerance
Pollution Tolerance: Low tolerance
▷ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION📚
Description 📝
This fragrant annual herb is native to Thailand. It is known as the boldest of basils for it’s unique and distinctive sweet, savory, herbaceous flavor and aroma, with a note of peppery clove and cinnamon. Often used in curries, salads, stir-fries, and as a garnish for pho.
Attract and Repel Wildlife🐝🦋🐦🐌🪰🐇🦌
Deer and Rodent Resistant🦌🐇🐁
Attracts: Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other beneficial insects
Repels: Mosquitoes and flies
Diseases and Pests🐜🦠
Note: Proper care keeps plants resilient and healthy, preventing diseases and pests. This list details the potential threats, specific diseases and pests vary depending on environmental climate.
Diseases:
◦ Downy mildew: A destructive disease that may become widespread if left uncontrolled.
◦ Fusarium wilt: A common disease caused by a seedborne fungus that causes partial or general wilting.
◦ Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus (INSV): Spread by Western flower thrips, and there is no cure. Symptoms include distorted growth and brown, necrotic spots.
◦ Leaf Spot: A diseased or discolored area on a leaf caused by a plant disease or injury. Leaf spots may be caused by fungi, bacteria, or viruses, or by injuries from insects, nematodes, environmental factors, herbicides, or toxicity.
◦ Powdery Mildew: Disease caused by a fungus due to overwatering or overcrowding, making the plant vulnerable to other pests.
◦ Root Rot: Affects the roots of plants growing in wet or damp soil, may be lethal to both indoor and outdoor plants.
Pests:
◦ Aphids: Small, soft-bodied sucking insects which pierce plant tissues and draw out the juices.
◦ Snails and Slugs: They eat a wide variety of plants, including young seedlings, mature plants, and turfgrasses, and may cause damage to gardens and flower beds.
◦ Spider mites: They feed by bruising plant cells with their small, whiplike mouthparts and ingesting the sap. Spider mites produce a fine silk webbing, often found at leaf nodes or the undersides of leaves, which may kill plants or cause serious stress to them.
Animal Toxicity and Interactions ☠️❤️🩹
Thai Basil has very low, safe levels of thujone. Thujone is a chemical compound found in specific herbs and is toxic in high amounts. Pregnant, breastfeeding mothers, and young children should avoid consuming thujone. Consuming excessive thujone may cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dizziness, seizures, damage to the liver and nervous system, coma, or death. Thujone toxicity is higher with concentrated forms like teas, extracts, and oils. Thujone consumed from common culinary use of these herbs now and then is considered safe for consumption.
High Thujone Content: Wormwood (do not eat) and Mugwort
Moderate Thujone Content: Holy Basil, Sage, and Yarrow
Low Thujone Content: Thai Basil, Sweet Basil, Thyme, and Oregano
Animal Toxicity: Safe for dogs and cats
Medicine Interactions:
Individuals may have a sensitivity or allergies to sweet basil, consult a healthcare professional first and proceed at own risk.
◦ Anticoagulant and antiplatelet medicine (Blood thinners): Thai basil may slow blood clotting. Taking thai basil with medications intended to slow blood clotting may increase the risk of bruising and bleeding.
◦ Antihypertensive medication (High blood pressure medication): Thai basil may lower blood pressure and strengthen the effect of blood pressure medications.
No data easily available online. Research medicine interactions at the library on online. Consult a healthcare professional first and proceed at own risk.
Use and Harvest⚕️🌾
❗Never ingest essential oils, instead use organic fresh or dried herbs.
Use: Thai Basil leaves are a common ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisines, such as Thai, Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian.
◦ Flowers: Subtly sweet, savory, peppery flavor. Edible in salads, soups, as a garnish, or for herbal tea.
◦ Leaves: Capable of withstanding prolonged heat from cooking. Renowned for pho soup, curry, and stir-fry. Excellent for sauces, marinades, salads, dressings, flavored salt, flavored oil, and garnishes. Traditional medicine in Southeast Asia utilizes Thai basil leaves for topical applications on wounds and skin conditions.
◦ Essential Oil: Click Here for Precautions, Instructions, and Dilution Ratios
Benefits: Blood thinner (reduces blood clots), antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, antidisease, antiradical, anti-inflammatory, relieves swelling, nausea, flatulence (farting), prevents infection, colds (flu and influenza), fevers, digestion problems, digestion stimulating, and wound healing.
Dosing: 1 teaspoon of dried herb or 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh herb every other day for adults, using irregularly for tea or to add flavor to meals. Use for 2 to 3 weeks, then stop use for 2 weeks prior to continuing use. 1 teaspoon of fresh thai basil contains a low amount of vitamin K, which supports blood health and bone strength.
Click Here for How To Harvest, Dry, and Properly Store Herbs and Seeds
Harvest: Never harvest more than 20% of a plant’s leaves or roots!
◦ Flowers: From July to September
◦ Leaves: Harvest any time, primarily Mid Spring to Late Summer to avoid bitterness
◦ Seeds: Harvest the dry, brown, crunchy flowers from Summer to Fall. Follow harvesting techniques in the link above to extract and properly store the seeds.
Personal Experience: Pho soup is delightfully distinctive, filling me with warmth, nourishment, nutrients, and energy when I am ill or feeling depressed. Visit a local Pho shop or find an online recipe to prepare a soothing bowl at home!
Aroma, Flavor, and Culinary Combinations🧼🍴
Note: The flowering stage may cause leaves to be more bitter. Drying the leaves slightly reduces flavor.
Aroma: Sweet with hints of peppery clove and cinnamon
Flavor: Sweet, savory, herbaceous flavor with a note of peppery clove and cinnamon
Culinary Combinations: Thai basil compliments herbs and spices (thyme, curry, mint, oregano, parsley, chives, lemongrass, and ginger), quinoa, whole wheat enriched pasta, wild rice, bean sprouts, beans (sugar snap peas, green beans, chickpeas [garbanzos], black, pinto), legumes (lentils, mung beans), tofu, tempeh, mushrooms, nuts (roasted cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans, and pine nuts), vegetables (arugula, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Winter squash [pumpkin, butternut squash, acorn squash], Summer squash [zucchini, straightneck, and crookneck], sweet potato, red potato, white potato, eggplant, garlic, bell pepper, carrot, beet, asparagus, brussels sprouts, radish, tomato, cucumber, bok-choy, baby corn, lemongrass, and bamboo shoots), and fruits (avocado, apple, apricot, pear, peach, watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, honeydew, citrus [lemon and lime], and figs)
Click Here to explore a comprehensive list of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients with function explanations, deficiency or excess symptoms, and vegan food source rankings (high, medium, low)
History 📜
Thai basil is a variety of sweet basil that is native to Southeast Asia, with origins in Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. The history of thai basil cultivation dates back around 5,000 years, with the earliest known references in Indian Vedic texts. However, its exact origin is debated, with some believing it may have come from Iran, India, or Asia and spread to the Mediterranean along ancient spice routes.
Lifespan⏳
2 years to 3 years longevity for life expectancy.
Vegan Botany 