Ocimum tenuiflorum, commonly known as holy basil or tulsi

My mother likes to go on walks in my neighborhood with my sister and me after she returns from her job at the hospital in my town (she showers and changes her clothes beforehand). When on one of these walks, we saw a neighbor in their driveway, attending to some pots with plants in them. I remembered the english post I had to write, and asked to take a picture of one but asked them not to tell me which plant it was. I had no clue where to start to figure out what this plant was. It has a red, woody stem and purple flowers. Luckily, when I showed my mother the picture, she knew what it was, but only in Gujarati, which is my second language. I don’t know much, but I am able to have decent conversations with it. My mother only speaks to us in Gujarati, in order for us to practice it, but we reply in English, while my father’s main language is English so our conversations are only English. She called the plant Tulsi which she didn’t know in English.

So using that information, it was pretty easy to find the plant online. The Holy Basil plant is actually commonly known as Tulsi even in english. So by looking up just the word “Tulsi” I found the plant and it matched what I took a picture of.

I had my parents text that neighbor, asking what they used it for. They said they like to put it in their tea, because even though it is called “basil”, it has a minty flavor to it. I found it really cool to learn about an herb that I have never heard of.

-Romy Patel