O. Ryding (2006) Ocimum. Flora of Somalia 3: 336-341
Plants herbs, subshrubs, or small shrubs. Inflorescences thyrselike, open or dense; bracts smaller and distinct from the leaves, persistent or deciduous, sometimes forming at coma at the top of the inflorescences; cymes with 3 flowers (in species of Somaliland and Somalia); peduncles absent or almost so;bracteoles absent. Calyces 5-lobed, sometimes appearing 3-lobed, open or closed in fruit; uppermost lobes much larger than other lobes, decurrent along the tube; lateral lobes wide at the base, becoming subulate, toothed, or truncate to arcuate at the tip; lower lobes free or connate and forming an emarginate lower lip; corollas strongly 2-lipped; upper lips more or less equally 4-lobed, almost flat; lower lips straight or deflexed, more or less as long as or shorter than the upper lip, shallowly concave to almost flat; stamens directed to snd longer than the lower lip, posterior pair inserted in the proximal portion of the corolla tube, their filaments hairy, usually geniculate and/or appendaged in their basal portion, rarely stright and not appendaged; anthers with divergent or parallel thecae; style branches equally long. Nutlets obovoid, ellipsoid, or subglobose, glabrous or hairy.
Ocimum includes about 65 species which are widely dstributed in warmer regions of the world.
Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.