American Apple - Italian Basil

[digitS']

Can you imagine being in a distant country and having a grocer tell you that, "We have the wonderful 'American apple' in the store, today!"

You are left thinking, "American apple? Which American apple?"

I have a strong suspicion that there are almost as many Italian basils as there are communities in Italy. If not communities, then probably provinces!

What possible information do the seed companies provide us calling a basil: Italian? Or, "sweet," for that matter? And, why do they sell things in this fashion?

Steve :/
who will not be asking you why he buys basil on the basis of pretty pictures in seed catalogs.

 

[lesa]

The important question... have you ever had basil that you didn't like?? I love it all. I've had lemon basil, anise basil, sweet, etc. If I could only grow one thing- basil would be my choice! Love those pretty pictures!!

 

[digitS']

Well, I do like it and like the pictures of it as well, Lesa.

Part of this comes from a twinge of resentment when the seed in one $4 packet from one company is growing the exact same plants as the seed from a $4 packet from another company and the seed from a $4 packet from yet another company . . . .

It would help the organization part of my little pea brain to say, "This is from column A, this is from column B, and this one is from column C." Rather than, "You spent $12 for too much seed of all the same type!"


All that aside . . . . there seems to be a Genovese basil and then another group which is just more generally called "sweet." Genovese is also sweet and there have been various plant-breeding directions taken with it. The Sweet basil may be just as suitable, wondrously scented and it includes some of those with wide and unusual leaves but there is also a risk of growing plants that have very little scent and flavor.

Am I giving too much credit to the Genovese type and being too suspicious of the seed companies?

I've got a whole lot of Lettuce Leaf basil seed that I bought once. I am very suspicious of that type because of fusarium infection that has shown up. I'd still like to grow some plants in the pretty pictures but I'm getting a little gun-shy. And, if I was Italian, I may well resent basil being just casually named: "Italian."

It is a wonderful plant family! As well as flavorful, basil is also very ornamental! It fits beautifully into my annual garden scheme of things!!

Steve