Taxon: Sesamum indicum L.

• first united with S. orientale L. by DC., Pl. rar. jard. Geneve 16-19. 1825, satisfying Vienna ICBN Art. 11.5, despite arguments in Taxon 38:656-659. 1989
• now conserved (Vienna ICBN Art. 14.4 & App. IV) against S. orientale
• review history of nomenclature proposal concerning this name from the Smithsonian Institution's database

Common names:

• beniseed   (Source: Mansf Ency ) – English
  
• benneseed   (Source: Crops US ) – English
  
• benniseed   (Source: PROTABASE ) – English
  
• sesame   (Source: World Econ Pl ) – English
  
• hu ma   (Source: Mansf Ency ) – Transcribed Chinese
  
• sésame   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• gingelly   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – India
  
• til   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – India
  
• goma   (Source: Names Batra ) – Japanese Rōmaji
  
• koba   (Source: Mansf Ency ) – Japanese Rōmaji
  
• gergelim   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Portuguese
  
• gimgelim   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Portuguese
  
• ajonjolí   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• sésamo   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• simsim   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Swahili
  
• ufuta   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Swahili
  
• wangila   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Swahili
  
• beni   (Source: Use Pl WT Afr [as S. orientale]) – unknown
  
• benne   (Source: PROTABASE ) – unknown
  

More:

see MMPND for additional names in foreign scripts

Economic importance:

• Food additives: flavoring   (from seeds fide Edible Nuts; PROTABASE, ash as salt substitute)
  
• Human food: oil/fat; pseudocereal; seeds   (fide Dict Econ Pl; Mansf Ency)
  
• Animal food: fodder   (seed cakes fide Mansf Ency)
  
• Materials: lipids   (for lubricants, medicines, perfumes, soaps fide PROTABASE)
  
• Medicines: folklore   (fide CRC MedHerbs ed2; Herbs Commerce ed2)
  
• Non-vertebrate poisons: plant pest control   (together with pyrethrum fide Mansf Ency)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Sesamum indicum from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

View phytochemical or ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Distributional range:

• widely cultivated

• possible origin India or Africa

References:

• PROTABASE, the information base of PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) - on-line resource. (PROTABASE)
• Batra, L. R. 1995. Names of Japanese plants sorted by their Japanese names in Romanized Katakana and scientific nomenclature. (Names Batra)
• Brummitt, R. K. 2005. Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 57. Taxon 54:1098. [proposal recommended].
• Burkill, H. M. 1985–2004. The useful plants of west tropical Africa. (Use Pl WT Afr) [= S. orientale L.].
• Dassanayake, M. D. & F. R. Fosberg, eds. 1980–. A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. (F Ceylon)
• Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs. (CRC MedHerbs ed2)
• Exell, A. W. et al., eds. 1960–. Flora zambesiaca. (F Zamb)
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop - on-line resource. (Ecocrop)
• Hanelt, P., ed. 2001. Mansfeld's encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops. Volumes 1-6. (Mansf Ency)
• Hara, H. et al. 1978–1982. An enumeration of the flowering plants of Nepal. (L Nepal)
• John, C. M. et al. 1950. The wild gingelly of Malabar. Madras Agric. J. 37:47–50.
• Kartesz, J. T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. (L US Can ed2) [= S. orientale L.].
• Magness, J. R. et al. 1971. Food and feed crops of the United States. IR Bull. 1. (Crops US)
• Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. (Food Feed Crops US)
• Matthew, K. M. 1983. The flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic. (F TamilC) [= S. orientale L.].
• McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2. (Herbs Commerce ed2)
• Nicolson, D. H. & J. H. Wiersema. 2004. (1618) Proposal to conserve Sesamum indicum against Sesamum orientale (Pedaliaceae). Taxon 53:210–211.
• Nicolson, D. H. et al. 1988. An interpretation of Van Rheede's Hortus Malabaricus. Regnum Veg. 119:207.
• Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) - on-line resource. (Pl Names)
• Rehm, S. & G. Espig. 1991. The cultivated plants of the tropics and subtropics. (CultTropS) [= S. orientale L.].
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. (Dict Rehm)
• Rosengarten, F. 1984. The book of edible nuts. (Edible Nuts)
• Seegeler, C. J. P. 1989. Sesamum orientale L. (Pedaliaceae): sesame's correct name. Taxon 38:656–659. [= S. orientale L.; maintains that DC's joining of S. indicum & S. orientale was only provisional].
• Smith, A. C. 1979–1991. Flora vitiensis nova. (F Viti) [= S. orientale L.].
• Steenis, C. G. G. J. van, ed. 1976. Flora malesiana. (F Males) 7:829. [= S. orientale L.].
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa. (F TE Afr)
• Uphof, J. C. T. 1968. Dictionary of economic plants, ed. 2. (Dict Econ Pl)
• Voss, E. G. 1996. pers. comm. [accepts, based on examination of DC's original reference, concluding that DC effectively satisfied the requirements of Art. 11.5 (Tokyo Code) in uniting S. indicum & S. orientale and choosing S. indicum].

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Sesamum indicum.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Sesamum indicum. Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Synonyms:

• (=) Sesamum mulayanum N. C. Nair
  (previously associated with 1 accession)
• (=) Sesamum orientale L.
  (previously associated with 127 accessions)

Check other databases for Sesamum indicum L.:

• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• PROTABASE: Plant Resources of Tropical Africa's (PROTA's) online resource
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.
  Note: Defaults to a search by genus or species epithet if species binomial not found.

Images:

• Embryo drawing: U.S. National Seed Herbarium drawing
• Seeds: U.S. National Seed Herbarium image
• Seeds or fruits: Seed ID Workshop image, from Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio State University

More:

• Check PlantSystematics.org for additional images
• Images Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

Ctrl P to print