Abstract
Herbal medicine has a long background equal to history of humankind. Several plants have been used as remedies in ancient civilizations.
The plant Ocimum sanctum L. or Ocimum tenuiflorum L., commonly known as the Holy Basil in English or Tulsi in the various Indian languages, is one of these medicinal plants with a wide variety of applications in traditional medicine. In modern era, it has been shown to be effective against diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cancers, bronchitis, and found to have antimicrobial, antidepressive, anxiolytic and neuroprotective properties.
These beneficial properties of this medicinal plant can mainly originate from its major biochemically active constituents like eugenol, carvacrol, ursolic acid, β-caryophyllene and rosmarinic acid. In this paper we reviewed current literature about anxiolytics,antidepressive, neuroprotective, antidementia, adaptogenic and antistress properties of Holy Basil.