Commercial potentialities of essential oil of Ocimum members growing in North East India

Abstract

Ocimum L. is a versatile genus and is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. About 160 species of the genus have been reported in the world where India accounted with nine species. In North East India four species are cultivated. The study on the chemical constitution of essential oil obtained from various species have shown that there exists a number of types available which can be interesting to perfumers and can find utilization in industry. Therefore, more emphasis is given on breeding and to develop synthesizing new types or strain of genus. The present review focuses on taxonomic distribution, essential oil composition, traditional uses, pharmacological activities and agrotechnology of available species of the genus from published literatures which may be helpful in pharmaceutical industry and formulation of drug principles.