Ocimum
species represent commercially important medicinal and aromatic plants. The essential oil biosynthesized by
Ocimum
species is enriched with specialized metabolites specifically, terpenoids and phenylpropanoids. Interestingly, various
Ocimum
species are known to exhibit diverse chemical profiles, and this chemical diversity has been at the center of many studies to identify commercially important chemotypes. Here, we present various chemotypes from the
Ocimum
species and emphasize trends, implications, and strategies for the quality and yield improvement of essential oil. Globally, many
Ocimum
species have been analyzed for their essential oil composition in over 50 countries. Asia represents the highest number of chemotypes, followed by Africa, South America, and Europe.
Ocimum basilicum
L. has been the most widespread and well-studied species, followed by
O
.
gratissimum
L.,
O
.
tenuiflorum
L.,
O
.
canum
Sims,
O
.
americanum
and
O
.
kilimandscharicum
Gürke. Moreover, various molecular reasons, benefits, adverse health effects and mechanisms behind this vast chemodiversity have been discussed. Different strategies of plant breeding, metabolic engineering, transgenic, and tissue-culture, along with anatomical modifications, are surveyed to enhance specific chemotypic profiles and essential oil yield in numerous
Ocimum
species. Consequently, chemical characterization of the essential oil obtained from
Ocimum
species has become indispensable for its proper utilization
.
The present chemodiversity knowledge from
Ocimum
species will help to exploit various applications in the industrial, agriculture, biopharmaceutical, and food sectors.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11101-021-09767-z.