Sesame

Cultivated for the oily seeds. Oil is used in confectionery, in the manufacture of “ghee”, soap and hair oil. Leaves, seeds and oil are claimed to be medicinally important.

Erect annual, up to 65 cm tall, puberulous. Leaves very variable on the same plant, linear, narrowly oblong, ovate or lanceolate, entire, subentire, lobed or 3-partite, acute, 3-18 cm long, 0.5-4 cm broad, glabrous above, pubescent below, petiole 0.5-12 cm long. Flowers with strong unpleasant odour, bracteate; pedicel up to 5 mm long with 2 glands on either side at the base. Calyx 2-6 mm long, lobes linear to narrowly lanceolate, hairy, persistent. Petals 2-3 cm long, pubescent, obtuse. Stamens c. 1 cm long. Ovary 1-2 mm long, pilose, oblong. Fruit oblong, loculicidal, acuminate capsule, 1.5-2.5 cm long, 5-7 mm broad, slightly scabrid-¬pilose. Seeds black, brown or white, 2-3 mm long, 1-1.5 mm broad, wingless, almost smooth. Lectotype: India, Linn. Herb. 802.3 (LINN)

Herbs annual, erect, to 1.2 m tall. Stems branched or unbranched, 4-angled, finely pubescent to glabrescent. Leaves opposite or alternate; petiole 3-11 cm on lower leaves; leaf blade lanceolate to ovate, variously 3-parted, 4-20 X 2-10 cm; upper stem leaves oblong to linear-lanceolate, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, base cuneate, margin entire. Flowers white, pink, or mauve-pink with darker markings. Calyx persistent. Corolla 1.5-3.3 cm. Capsule narrowly oblong, rounded at base, 1.5-3 cm X 6-7 mm; beak broad, short. Seeds horizontally arranged, double fringe conspicuous; testa white, brown, or black when ripe, smooth. 2n = 26*.

Distribution: Original home uncertain, Asia or Tropical Africa, widely cultivated in Pakistan; India; Ceylon; Tropical Africa etc.

Fl. Per. June-October.

Widely cultivated in China as a crop for seed oil; origin uncertain, cultivated worldwide, especially in tropical countries.

Sesamum orientale Linnaeus.