The Comparative antioxidant, cytotoxic & analgesic studies of two varieties of Ocimum gratissimum

Abstract

Ocimum gratissimum is an aromatic, perennial herb, 1-3 m tall; stem erect, round-quadrangular, much branched, glabrous or pubescent, woodrat the base, often with epidermis peeling in strips. Leaves opposite; petiole 2-4.5 cm long, slender, pubescent; blade elliptical to ovate, 1.5-16 cm x 1-8.5 cm, membranaceous, sometimes glandular punctate, base cuneate, entire, margin elsewhere coarsely crenate-serrate, apex acute, puberulent or pubescent.Inflorescence a verticillaster, arranged in a terminal, simple or branched raceme 5-30 cm long; rachis lax, softly pubescent; bracts sessile, ovate, 3-12 mm x 1-7 mm, acuminate, caducous; pedicel 1-4 mm long, spreading or ascending, slightly curved; flowers in 6-10-flowered verticillate,small, hermaphrodite; calyx 2-lipped, 2-3 mm long, in fruit 5-6 mm, pubescent, upper lip rounded and recurved, reflexed in fruit, lower lip with4, narrow, pointed teeth, central pair of teeth minute and much shorterthan the upper lip; corolla campanulate, 3.5-5 mm long, 2-lipped, greenish-white, pubescent outside, upper lip truncate, 4-fid, lower lip longer declinate, flat, entire; stamens 4, declinate, in 2 pairs, inserted on the corolla tube, filaments distinctly exerted, upper pair with a bearded too that the base; ovary superior, consisting of 2 carpels, each 2-celled, style 2-fid.Fruit consisting of 4, dry, 1-seeded nutlets enclosed in the persistent calyx (the lower lip closing the mouth of the fruiting calyx); nutlet subglobose,1.5 mm long, rugose, brown; outer pericarp not becoming mucilaginous in water.