Botanical Name

Ocimum basilicum L. [Lamiaceae]

Specimen Type

Herbarium Sheet [Preserved Specimen]

Collector

Peter Thonning

Collection Date-s

1799 – 1803

Collection Location

southern part of the country [Ghana]

Colonial Context

Danish Gold Coast of Africa 1663–1933

Annotations Determinations and Type Specimen Status

On sheet: HB. SCHUM. 31 Ocÿmum Basilicum (setosum m: crossed out) lanceolatum m: Collect: Guin:
D. Th: petiolis subvaginantibus ore vagina setosis

On label: Ocimum basilicum L. rev. O. Sebald Stuttgart 1986
IDC microfiche foto: Isert et Thonnig nr. 72 I 1-2

Ocimum lanceolatum Schumach. and Thonn. SYNTYPE. Beskr. Guineiske Pl.: 268 (1827)

Ownership and Collection Management History

Thonning 31; ex herb. C. F. Schumacher

Common Names

Blafaa-koae [Schumacher/Thonning]

Historical Cultural and Traditional Knowledge

[Hepper (1976) p. 65:] "The natives have the superstition that the spirit of their deceased relatives can appear to them and bring upon them all kinds of illness; when a native attributes his illness to this cause this and other strongly-scented plants are boiled in water with which he washes himself and one besprinkles the place where he is staying with the powerful odour in order to expel the spirit. Th."

Source

Herbarium C NHMD

NHMD Herbarium C Catalogue Number

C10004214

C10004214

Copyright Owner

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Copyright License

CC BY 4.0 (images) and CC0 (metadata)