Herb library · Herb · Ocimum lamiifolium
Damakese
An Ethiopian basil and one of the country's most-used household herbs, taken for fever and headache as a decoction, rubbed on, or burned as a smoke. It has not been studied in people.
Traditional use
Damakese is its Amharic name. In a 2024 survey of the Gamo people of Boreda Abaya District in southern Ethiopia, where it is called mechtale, it was the medicinal plant people reported using most (56 use reports): a leaf decoction is drunk and rubbed on for febrile illness, headache and skin disease, and healers agreed on it for febrile illness, called mich, fumigating the patient with smoke from its leaves and lemon eucalyptus and telling them to sleep. In a 2023 community study of 882 mothers in eastern Ethiopia, it was the herb pregnant women used most; nausea, vomiting and fever were the commonest reasons women gave for using herbs.
What studies show
No studies in people of this herb on its own yet. What is known of it comes from the traditions that use it.
- Insufficient
Fever, headache and skin disease: no study of damakese in people was found. Its extracts and essential oil have been studied only against bacteria and malaria parasites in the laboratory and for blood sugar in mice.
Be careful of
Cautions
- PregnancyIn the eastern Ethiopia study, preterm birth was more common among mothers who had used damakese in pregnancy. The study could not show that the herb caused it, but its safety in pregnancy is unknown; avoid medicinal amounts then.
- NoteA fever that lasts, or any fever in a malaria area, needs a clinician and a malaria test, not only a home remedy.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
Sources
- Association between the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy and adverse fetal outcomes among mothers in eastern Ethiopia, 2023 (Heliyon, 2024) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Evaluation of the in vivo antidiabetic, in vitro antioxidant and alpha amylase inhibitory effects of Ocimum lamiifolium leaf hydromethanolic crude extract in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mouse model (BMC Complement Med Ther, 2025) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Ethnobotanical study of traditional medicinal plants used by the local Gamo people in Boreda Abaya District, Gamo Zone, southern Ethiopia (J Ethnobiol Ethnomed, 2024) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
- Association between the use of herbal medicines during pregnancy and adverse fetal outcomes among mothers in eastern Ethiopia, 2023 (Heliyon, 2024) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.