Essential Branch

Herbaceous essential oil

Sweet basil

Ocimum basilicum

A bushy sweet basil plant with large bright green, slightly cupped leaves and a tiny white flower at its centre.
A bushy sweet basil plant with large bright green, slightly cupped leaves and a tiny white flower at its centre. Photo: PumpkinSky, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sweet basil essential oil is steam distilled from the leaves and flowering tops of Ocimum basilicum, in the Lamiaceae family. It has a sweet, herbaceous scent with a hint of liquorice and sits as a top note. It can easily dominate a blend, so people start with a single drop. People choose it for blends aimed at focus, freshening the air or a muscle rub, and it pairs well with spearmint. The key safety point is that basil oils vary in methyl chavicol (estragole), which may be carcinogenic in high doses. Check the batch analysis: the suggested skin maximum of 15% applies only to oil with no more than 0.8% estragole.

Safety at a glance

  • Pregnancy Avoid
  • Children From age 2
  • Dogs Generally well tolerated
  • Cats Use with caution
  • Sunlight Not phototoxic
  • On skin Up to 15%

Reference

Botanical name Ocimum basilicum
Plant family Lamiaceae
Plant part Leaves and flowering tops
Extraction steam distillation
Main origins Not given in the references we use
Aroma family Herbaceous
Note Top note
Aroma Sweet, green herb with a hint of liquorice
Main constituents linalool, fenchol, eugenol, methyl chavicol (estragole) and beta-caryophyllene
Common uses focus, fresh air and muscle rub
Suggested maximum on skin 15% of the blend
Phototoxic No
Shelf life once opened 2 to 3 years
Pregnancy Avoid
Children From age 2
Dogs Generally well tolerated
Cats Use with caution
Safety notes Basil oils vary: some are rich in methyl chavicol (estragole), which may be carcinogenic in high doses. Tisserand and Young suggest a skin maximum of 15% only for oil with no more than 0.8% estragole, so check the analysis and use it sparingly. AromaWeb, citing Julia Lawless, advises avoiding basil oil in pregnancy. Basil can dominate a blend, so start with a single drop. Pet poison lines do not flag it.

Blends well with

Sources

  1. Basil Essential Oil, AromaWeb. Accessed October 26, 2026
  2. Spearmint Essential Oil, AromaWeb. Accessed October 26, 2026
  3. Essential oil shelf life (Robert Tisserand's guideline), AromaWeb. Accessed October 26, 2026