Indian basil, Ocimum basilicum, belongs to the family of Lamiaceae. The
essential oil of Indian basil extracted via hydro or steam distillation
from the leaves or whole plants is used to flavour foods, dental and oral
products, in fragrances, and in traditional rituals and medicines.
Extracted essential oil has also been shown to contain biologically
active constituents that are insecticidal, nematicidal, fungistatic or
which have antimicrobial properties. The present invention relates to the
development of an early, short duration, dwarf, high essential oil,
methyl chavicol and linalool yielding variety of Indian basil (Ocimum
basilicum), Family--Lamiaceae) named as `CIM-SAUMYA`. This new variety of
Indian basil was developed through open pollination in the germplasm
followed by half-sib progeny selection and evaluation for the yield
characters of selected population for 3 years in field conditions. The
new cultivar possesses better growth and vegetative growth and is able to
produce higher herbage, oil and better combination of methyl chavicol and
linalool yield per unit area as compared to other control genotypes