- 100% pure Basil essential oil.
- Botanical Name: Ocimum basilicum
- Common Method of Extraction: Steam Distilled
- Part Typically Used: Leaves and Flowers/Buds
- Colour: Clear
- Consistency: Thin
- Perfumery Note: Top
- Strength of Initial Aroma: Medium
- Aromatic Description: Sweet, herbaceous, liquorice-like, slightly campherous
- Basil Oil Uses: Bronchitis, colds, coughs, exhaustion, flatulence, flu, gout, insect bites, insect repellent, muscle aches, rheumatism, sinusitis. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element, 1995), 58-67.]
- Major Constituents: Linalool Fenchol Eugenol Methyl chavicol Beta-Caryophyllene [Shirley Price].
Safety Information: Use Basil Oil sparingly and with caution. High doses may be carcinogenic especially for those basils that contain a significant amount of methyl chavicol (Eugenole). Tisserand and Young suggest a dermal maximum of 15% if the estragole content does not exceed 0.8%. Reading Tisserand and Young's full profile is recommended. [Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young, Essential Oil Safety (Second Edition. United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2014), 208.] Avoid Basil Oil during pregnancy. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils 186.] Tisserand and Young recommend a dermal maximum of 1.75%. They indicate that it may inhibit blood clotting and that it is contraindicated in pregnancy/breastfeeding, endometriosis and estrogen-dependent cancers. Avoid use with children under 5. Avoid use of the oil if it has oxidized. [Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young, Essential Oil Safety (Second Edition. United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2014), 197.] Tisserand and Young include additional information that is recommended reading.
