Anxiety Soother™: Holy Basil

Kava is a perennial woody and evergreen shrub with vines that can grow up to approximately 10 feet (3 meters) in height.³ Its leaves are heart-shaped, tapering and large.^3,7 The plant has yellow female and male flowers on different plants (dioecious) that are inconspicuous in oblong clusters.^3,4 Female plants are rare and do not produce viable seed. The rhizome (rootstock) cortex is tan or pale greyish-brown in color, with white to yellow flesh.^3,5,8 The rootstock bears lateral roots that reach up to 10 feet (3 meters) of root depth and less than an inch (2.5 cm) in thickness.^4,5

Passionflower is a fast-growing, evergreen in tropical climates, climbing, herbaceous perennial that can reach about 20 feet (approximately 6 meters).^2,3 Its hollow, lignified and slightly pubescent stems are often referred to as vines, with axillary tendrils to support climbing.^2,3,6 The dark green leaves are alternately spaced and palmately shaped with three to five lobes and a serrate margin with a whiteish underside.^2,5,6 The large fringed flowers are solitary on a long peduncle with five white to purple petals and five sepals with lavender, pink or purple filamented crowns.^2,3,6 Spreading occurs by root suckers and stolons from creeping, above-ground stems.³ Its fleshy fruits are egg-shaped berries that turn from green to yellow when mature and edible in the fall.^5,6 The dark-colored, flattened seeds are numerous and in an ovoid shape enclosed in a yellow to brown, arillate pulp.^2,6

Lavender is a small, monoecious and woody perennial shrub.^3,6 It is slow growing, up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) in height and 3 feet, 3 inches (1 meter) wide.^3,6 The thin silver-grey evergreen leaves are oblong to lanceolate with an entire margin and are covered in dense wooly star-shaped hairs.^6,11 The leaves grow in tight groups on leafy shoots, while on the long flowering shoots they are broadly spaced out.¹¹ The branch bark peels along the length and is grey-brown to dark brown in color.¹¹ The flowers are small and bluish-purple to blue-grey when fresh that dry to an orange-brown color, which are surrounded by papery bracts.^6,11 The petals are tubular in shape, with a larger two-lobed upper lip and a smaller three-lobed lower lip that enclose four stamen.¹¹ The flowers are arranged in a crowded spike that can be intermittent or almost continuous along the stem with the inflorescences more crowded towards the tip.^6,11 The seeds are cylindrically shaped nutlets.¹¹

Holy Basil is a fast-growing upright temperate annual or short-lived tropical perennial herb or shrub that can grow up to approximately 1 meter (3 ft 3 in) by 0.5 meter (1 ft 8 in).^2,3,4,6 The slender clusters of flowers are small and purple-red or white in color and have rounded upper lip lobes and obtuse to rounded lower lip lobes.^2,3 Its stems are square, hairy and well-branched.^3,4,5 The simple, opposite leaves are ovately-shaped, slightly toothed and hairy. ^3,4,5 They can be purple, green or green-brown in color.⁴