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When you purchase Basil essential oil, do you know which kind you are getting?

Does the bottle provide you with the Latin name?

Does it indicate which chemotype?

If you are not told any more information than just “Basil” - you could be using the potentially carcinogenic chemotype high in Estragole…

According to Robert Tisserand’s book, Essential Oil Safety (2nd edition), Basil ct Estragole (Ocimum basilicum ct estragole) is “potentially carcinogenic” due to high levels of Estragole and Methyleugenol. This particular chemotype contains between 73.4% and 87.4% Estragole and up to 4.2% Methyleugenol. Due to this the max dermal use level is suggested to stay at 0.1%, and never taken orally.

Now let’s take a look at several other kinds of Basil and see how they rate.

Hairy Basil (Hoary Basil) (Ocimum americanum var pilosum) has only trace amounts of Estragole. Its primary constituent is Linalool, at 31.7 - 50.1%, with Terpinen-4-ol as high as 26.8%. Essential Oil Safety suggests a max dermal use level of 30%.

Holy Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum synonym Ocimum sanctum) contains anywhere between 31.9% - 50.4% Eugenol. It does contain Estragole at a level of 9.7% - 12.9% and thus has a max dermal use level of 1.0%.

Lemon Basil (Ocimum x citriodorum) has key constituents of Geranial (23.3% - 25.1%) and Neral (16% - 17.1%). Max dermal use level is 1.4%.

Basil ct linalool (Ocimum basilicum ct linalool) ABSOLUTE contains 34.4% Linalool and 33.7% Eugenol. Due to the level of eugenol the max dermal use level is at 1.5%. The ESSENTIAL OIL, however, contains 53.7% - 58.3% Linalool and 9.4% - 15.2% Eugenol, and has a max dermal use level of 3.3%.

Madagascan Basil (Osimum gratissimum synonym Ocimum viride) contains 45% - 50% Estragole and 24% - 30% Camphor, and thus has a max dermal use level of 0.2%, and should not be used orally.

Basil ct methyl cinnamate (Ocimum basilicum ct methyl cinnamate) is comprised of 58% - 63.1% Methyl cinnamate and 17.3% - 27.3% Linalool and has a max dermal use level of 15%.

Pungent Basil (Shrubby/Tree/Russian/East Indian/clocimum) (Ocimum gratissimum synonym Ocimum viride) 62.9% Eugenol. Max dermal use level is 0.8%.

Did you notice that they have widely varying max dermal use levels? Safe topical usage varies from 0.2% right up to 30%.

Did you also spot that Madagascan Basil and Pungent Basil have the same Latin name? This is where Latin names can sometimes not be enough information. In order to tell which one is high in Estragole and which is high in Eygenol we need access to the GC/MS report for that oil. It would be wonderful if each company listed these right on their websites.

If your bottle does not say, check out the website and see if they tell you there. If not, call them up and ask them! Unfortunately, they might not even know! It’s possible their supplier is selling it to them as “Basil” with no further information. Let your company know why you want to know!

So what kind of Basil do you have?

All information was found in Robert Tisserand‘s new Essential Oil Safety (2nd edition). LOTS more information is provided for each of the Basil types listed above. This book is ESSENTIAL to ESSENTIAL oil enthusiasts!