Ocimum kilimandscharicum

Camphor Basil is an aromatic, perennial shrub up to 2 m tall Stems are rounded-quadrangular, much branched, woody with epidermis sometimes peeling off in strips below. Leaves are often with fascicles of young leaves or young shoots in axils; blade ovate, 1.5-5.5 x 1-3 cm, sawtoothed, tip blunt or rounded, base wedge-shaped. Leaf-stalks are 4-10 mm long. Flowers are borne in lax inflorescence with distant whorls 8-20 mm apart; bracts usually deciduous. Flower-stalks are 3 mm long, erect, slightly curved, flattened. Calyx is downward-pointing, 3-4 mm long at anthesis, hairy. Fruiting calyx is 5 mm long. Flowers are white, pink or mauve, 6-7 mm long; tube straight, funnel-shaped, scarcely exceeding calyx tube Stamens protrude out, 3-5 mm. Camphor Basil is native to Ethiopia to E. Tropical Africa, cultivated in India.