Basil
Basil is a warm-temperate herbaceous crop that grows best in the 18–27°C range with 1000–1600 mm of rain, cropping over a 80–270-day season.
How it grows
Basil is the leaves of a low plant, gathered above the ground.
Where Earth's climate suits basil
Climatic suitability only — scored for every 0.5° of the planet from this crop's temperature and rainfall tolerances (FAO EcoCrop) on AgroClim 1991–2025 normals (AgERA5 temperature, CHIRPS/ERA5 rainfall). It shows where the rain-fed climate permits the crop, not where it is grown today; irrigation lets many crops thrive in drier country than the map suggests (California, Egypt, the Indus and Nile).
Who grows it — and where the climate merely allows it
Climate envelope · FAO EcoCrop
Deep bar = optimal range; pale bar = absolute tolerance. Beyond the pale bar the crop fails. Latitude tolerance ±60° · soil pH 4.3–8.2.
Growing calendar & hazards
An annual cycle of roughly 80–270 days from sowing to harvest, so it is timed to fall within the frost-free, adequately-wet part of the year for the location.
- Climate stress. Yields fall as conditions drift beyond the optimal temperature and rainfall band shown above.