Might be a weed.. Something found in common potting soils.

def not a weed...this plant came up 172 out of the 175 times where we planted the basil seeds...nothing else came up.

Your web link picture is PW protected and cannot be accessed. Suggest that you upload to Photo Bucket and paste the image link here. That will show your photo directly on this page. If the seeds were packaged store bought, they may have been mislabeled. I have not seen any basil that has hairs on leaves. Mint can can, so can some other herbs. Basil, depending on the type is usually rounded or elongated leaves that are bumpy or smooth, and can be purple or green color. Mutations are uncommon when your starting 172 seeds. Are the seeds small round and black in color?

http://s1010.photobucket.com/albums/af225/sarahranda/?action=view&current=DSC04429.jpg

Try this link for the basil...i tried the photobucket website. We planted 3 different types of basil from 3 different packets and companies. One packet from an organic farm from down the road. Yes, they were small, round and black, some may have been brownish. I have grown basil before and never seen this happen, i'm thinking it's not basil or something went really wrong..
Thanks for the posts!

http://s1010.photobucket.com/albums/af225/sarahranda/?action=view&current=DSC04429.jpg

http://s1010.photobucket.com/albums/af225/sarahranda/

works better to see the photo i think.

You are correct not what we in this country call basil. However having planted seeds from another country labeled basil not all basil seeds are the same.

What types of basil did you plant? I hope you still have packets.

That's not any Basil I've ever seen.

Maybe we can get Daisy to check in.

What in god's name...

Kill it with fire!!

It's not like any basil I've ever seen. In fact, I'm in a puzzle to know just what it is!

Unless it's Rocket (arugula), in its infancy. That's the only thing that springs to mind which has that shape of leaf at some stage in its career! But don't take that as a definitive ID!

Have you crushed it to check out what it smells like?

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:898904}}

I have a variety of kale growing in my garden that looks a lot like that. Russian kale, if I recall correctly? How bizarre.

Since your seed came from 3 different sources it would seem that your soil was contaminated with some other seed. The basil may yet appear.

Link to the HTML instead on Photo Bucket, as shown below..

Never saw any kind of basil with that kind of leaf shape..

i picked a plant and it really has no smell at all, so it cannot be basil. Some of the stems are turning purpleish. i guess i'll keep it growing and see what it turns into...probably kale or some sort of strong leafy green. I'll keep you up dated.

Actually, they do look a bit like a lettuce type.

Looks just like one of the lettuce types you'd find in a mesclun mixture, much like a frisee' lettuce.

Yes, thats what I think too, as that was one I planted last year.

They look like kale I've had reseed itself. It was a "Winter red kale" - see a picture of the mature leaf at Territorial Seed - Winter Red Kale.

Wait a little bit. Mature leaves can look different than the young ones and are much easier to id.

FataMorgana

Absolutely, positively is not a basil. I agree with fatamorgana-it looks like the red Russian Kale we have been growing for years.

Another vote for kale.
Stew it with olive oil and garlc...