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Clinopodium vulgare
Also called Cushion Calamint, Dogmint, Field Basil, Wild Basil Savory, American Wild Basil
Wild basil (Clinopodium vulgare) is a hardy perennial herb of dry grassland and heath, related to mint rather than culinary basil. It thrives in sun and lean, well-drained chalky or limestone soil.
Clinopodium vulgare, or the wild basil (not to be confused with the basils of the genus Ocimum), is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae.
Wild basil occurs in suitable locations in most of Europe, western and central Asia, North America and North Africa. Its typical habitat is dry grassland and heathland, usually on limestone or chalky soils. Though its distribution is patchy it is widespread and not threatened in the UK.
The leaves of wild basil are used as an aromatic herb in the preparation of food dishes and to make a herbal tea. They can also be used in the preparation of both a brown and a yellow dye.
Basil thyme · Rock Thyme · Limestone calamint · Ashe's calamint · Browne's savory · San Miguel calamint · Chilean Calamint · Scarlet calamint · Florida calamint · Clinopodium fasciculatum · Clinopodium gilliesii · Ozark calamint
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Clinopodium vulgare by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
