Sesame
ಎಳ್ಳುतिलஎள்
Sesamum indicum L.
- light
- —
- water
- Little
- tall
- 75 cm
- wide
- —
Pedaliaceae
Also called Benne, Cultivated Sesame, Indian Sesame, Beniseed, Benue Oil
Formerly Anthadenia sesamoides, Sesamum africanum, Sesamum auriculatum, Sesamum brasiliense, and 13 more
When it flowers
Flowers January and March to November in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- AnnualKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Indian SubcontinentKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Height
- 51 cm to 99 cmRead from Wikipedia, one source
- Water
- Little: takes droughtRead from Wikipedia, one source
- Flowers
- White, pink, purpleRead from Wikipedia, one source
Not known yet: light, spread, coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.
Grow it with
Suggested by a rule, not by a gardener: same climate (kew), flowering when this plant does not (inaturalist), and a different shape.
AcerolaFlowers February and December, when this does not
Arabian jasmineFlowers February and December, when this does not
AshokaFlowers February and December, when this does not
Barbados lilyFlowers February and December, when this does not
Black-eyed Susan vineFlowers February and December, when this does not
Blue dazeFlowers February and December, when this does not
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- ajonjolí
- root
- cuahuaxtli, taltsin kiwi, tzacan-thactén
- myn
- mehen-sihal
- Indonesian
- Wijen
- Chinese
- 胡麻 (芝麻), 胡麻, 黑芝麻
- Portuguese
- gergelim
- Finnish
- öljyseesami
- Japanese
- ゴマ
- French
- Sésame
- Korean
- 참깨
- Italian
- Sesamo
- Turkish
- susam, Küncü, Simsim
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- 3D model: Sesamum indicum (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.