The cinnamon basil plant which flowered some weeks ago has started to show signs of its final stages of life, or so it seems. As I tried to observe for formation of fruits from its withered flowers, I was dismayed that no fruit-like structures were in sight. Perhaps the pollinators were absent as I hardly ever open the windows to this room. Oh c’mon, at least the pink flowers were a lovely sight to behold and their lemony scent was an aromatic treat. 
While my subconsciousness was dismayed at the failed venture of making my basil plant go to seed, my habitual curiosity saved the day. As I was pruning the half-dying bush, I decided to pluck the dried remains of those flowers for further examination. I peered and peeled the tiny, delicate sepals and to my surprise found tiny black ‘beads’ of about 1 mm in diameter hidden within. Logically, these should be the fruits of the plant. Hooray, there should be at least one seed in each of these black fruits! I was thrilled! My basil plant has made babies! 
For the next few minutes, I started on an adventure of checking for more hidden fruits in each withered flower. Hmm, not all flowers were pollinated though. The pollinated ones would eventually undergo fertilisation and the tell-tale sign is the browning of the sepals. In addition, every flower can produce a maximum of 4 fruits and therefore 4 seeds.
I recalled seeing tiny ants crawling in and out of the flowers previously. Those ants must be the substitute pollinators. Well and good.
I sowed about 20 or so teeny weeny black fruits onto some damp soil in 2 small plastic pots. Really hoping for offspring to sprout and meet their parents soon. As these seeds are produced by sexual reproduction, I should expect some genetic variation. Oh, how I wonder what these offspring will turn out to be.
I gathered more information about basil fruits from the internet and learned that these fruits are called achenes. An achene is an indehiscent fruit containing one seed. It does not split when mature. Achene, hmm, sounds kinda familiar – didn’t pay close attention to such terms while I was a biology student! I remembered a ‘learning styles’ speaker once said that true learning takes place at home. Hee hee.
Hi, wanted to plant basil at home too. Can you help recommend any shops that sell basil seeds? Thanks for your help! Hope to see your reply in my mailbox. =) -MK-
Hi MK,
Welcome to our blog site. BTW, do we know each other? :)
Regarding your queries on basil seeds, I’m afraid that I’ve not come across shops that sell basil seeds. However, you could purchase basil plants from certain farms in Singapore. You could try Bollywood farm and Oh Chin Huat farm. You could always collect seeds after the plant flowers. Otherwise, you could pluck off the flowers so that your plant won’t die off after flowering.
Hope that this helps! :)