African basil plant otherwise known as scent leaves is a popular plant in Africa.
It is also known as clove basil and belongs to the kingdom of plants.
It is known for its nice aroma and mostly cultivated in Arica, china, Indonesia e.t.c.
This article will elaborate in brief, the African basil plant and its economic importance.
The pictures taken below were from my small garden in my compound.
Botanical Name for African Basil Plant
This section talks about the botanical name for the African basil plant.
African basil plant has its botanical name “Ocimum gratissimum”
Cultivation of African Basil Plant
This section talks about how to cultivate the African basil plant otherwise known as scent leaves.
The plant usually produces seed on arrival at its maturity stage.
It is very easy to cultivate by spraying the seeds on a fertilized soil but I do penetrate the seeds a little bit into the soil so as to avoid pest damaging it.
Though the plant can survive both loamy and sandy soil.
Economic Importance of the African Basil Plant
This section present how the african basil plant is used.
Just as it’s been called scent leaves, it produces a nice scent on its own.
Cooking
I use the plant to cook my meal such as rice, soup and even boiled leaves of the plant I do use to drink tea. It is health-wise profitable.
Cold repellant
The plant helps to get rid of cold by providing warmth in the body. In fact it’s tradition of the Ibibio’s in the southern part of Nigeria to use scent leaves as a means of getting rid of cold in the body.
Antibacterial component in seeds
The plant has some antibacterial content in its seed. When it is been squeezed, the oil from it is health-wise reccomended for anti – bacterial infection that is internal.
Insect repellant
According to wikipedia.com, it presents the importance of scent leaves as a source of insect repellant for other crops.
Helps keeps the eyes healthy
The African basil plant is a rich source of vitamin A. vitamin A is known to give the eyes good sight.
It is recommended for people with short sight and long sight issue to take the juice from the scent leaves or use it in cooking their meal.
Helps in digesting food
Digestion of food is the breaking down of food into smaller particles for the body to utilize and it’s been proven scientifically that using scent leaves or African basil leaves as source of our ingredient in cooking usually helps to digest the food faster. You can even choose to drink the juice after eating which still means same thing.
Helps to prevent diabetes
Are you regular worker and you are fond of taking sugary juices, it’s quite necessary for you to stop such and start taking the scent leaves in order to prevent diabetes.
Diabetes is an illness of the body when its suffering from excessive intake of sugar in the blood.
Conclusion: This article has been able to present a brief on the African basil plant and its economic importance. You can drop your own suggestions as well in the comment section of this post.
