|
The Slender wild basil (Clinopodium gracile) belongs to Lamiaceae (the Mint family). It is a perennial herb that is native to Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands in Japan, as well as Taiwan, the Korean peninsula and China. This herb grows on rice field linches and roadsides, and it can reach 15-30 cm in height. The lower stems crawl on the grounds and rise up at a slant. The leaves are narrow ovate or ovate and arranged in opposite. The flowering spikes are borne on the terminal branches and upper axils from May to August. The flowers are pale rose pink, labiate and bloom in sparse whorls. The calyx lobes are covered with long soft hairs and glandular hairs, and tinged reddish. The Japanese name comes from the shape of the flowering spikes. In Taiwanese Mandarin, "光風輪".
|