Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Vol. LXIII, Issue 2
Written by Costel VÎNĂTORU, Bianca MUȘAT (ZAMFIR), Camelia BRATU, Adrian PETICILĂ
The species Ocimum basilicum originates in Asia and is now widely spread throughout the globe. In Europe, it is assumed that it was introduced in 356-323 BC by Alexandru Macedon. Although the plant has been present in the crop for a very long time, it is grown on very small areas in the household system. In Romania, very few researches have been carried out that have targeted this species, although in the world, the plant is cultivated and widely used in food as well as decorative, ornamental, medicinal, aromatic, melliferous plant. But in our country, it has been used mainly in the cult of the church as sacred plant. At V.R.D.S. Buzau research was started for breeding this species in 1996, because at that time there was no registered autochthonous variety in the Official Catalog of Crop Plants in Romania, the only commercial variety being a local "de Radovanu" population. In 2006, the researches on this species ended with the first Romanian basil variety registered in the Official Catalog of Crop Plants under the name of 'Aromat de Buzau’.
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