Jiu Ceng Ta

Jiu Ceng Ta (九層塔, 'nine-storey pagoda') is the Chinese name for sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae), an aromatic annual herb cultivated worldwide and naturalized in southern China and Taiwan. Plants grow 30–80 cm tall with squarish branched stems, opposite ovate green to purple leaves with serrate margins, and terminal racemes of small white to pinkish two-lipped flowers arranged in tiered whorls (hence 'nine-storey'). The aerial parts are intensely fragrant due to essential oils rich in linalool, methyl chavicol, and eugenol. In Chinese folk medicine and Taiwanese cuisine and herbalism, Jiu Ceng Ta is used as a warming, aromatic carminative for stomach upset, indigestion, common cold, irregular menstruation, and topically for snake or insect bites. Sweet basil is also a major culinary and medicinal herb in Ayurvedic and Mediterranean Western traditions.