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African Blue Basil

Ocimum kilimandscharicum × basilicum 'Dark Opal'

Photo by Saint Shrike
Published on Project Noah
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32.3668, -86.3

Field Notes

Description:

African Blue Basil is supposed to be much more cold hardy than most other basil varieties. It has pinkish purple blossoms and it's stems and new leaves can be purple (erm "blue" in the plant description world). It is a bit more "hairy" compared to some cultivars. The leaves were kinda matte.

Habitat:

Gardens... it is a hybrid that would probably not occur in nature.

Notes:

Despite it being "hardy" it still did well in my hot and humid garden. In fact, it thrived to be very large. As for how it tasted... it seemed alright to me, but not quite as yummy as the regular sweet basil (O. basilicum). It seemed to have more of a "green" taste to me. It supposedly has a camphor smell (and taste!), but as I never had to deal much with camphor, I am not sure. It did better than my sweet basil, which seemed to get eaten more by caterpillars and the likes. Bees seemed to like the flowers on both (for more pictures, look at my bee spotting).

Also, since we can't have reference URLs that aren't Encyclopedia of life or Wikipedia.... http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-07-23/home-and-garden/17383831_1_basil-…

Reference Links:

African Blue basil

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (6)
Saint Shrike
Hmm... yesh they'd all just eat your stuff anyway. Squirrels are squirrels though...
TrevorStaker
I'm not silly, you're the silly! Ahem... Water won't do me any good if there's inadequate sunlight. And I'd rather have my Black Walnut and White Oak, thereby my squirrels and occasional deer, than a garden. :3
Saint Shrike
Water it you silly =) One of the biggest problems people have (and that I have) is that they don't water enough (or, though this is usually inside plants or plants in poor draining soil, they are watered too much). I get really bad about watering things in the middle of summer. As hot as it gets down here, many of my plants need to be watered every other day, if not every day. It hasn't been raining enough for most things to survive in full sun here for the past.... three years at least.
TrevorStaker
Well, I meant gardens in general. Not only is there not enough sunlight, there isn't enough moisture. Perhaps I'll try window-gardening this summer. I'd really like to have some onions and peppers to work with for cooking. :)
naturalist.charlie
Trevor, if you have a sunny porch or window, you should try a potted basil plant. They work pretty well in pots, but need even more water than they do when in the ground.
TrevorStaker
Wish I could get my gardens to grow well... I don't have the right yard for it, it would seem. Too many trees.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners
Photographed
PublishedFebruary 25, 2011

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