Lemon Balm

-

Lemon Balm, also bee herb or sweet balm, a culinary and medicinal herb, member of the mint family. Lemon balm is native to southern Europe and northern Africa, and east as far as the Caucasus and northern Iran. The lemon-scented leaves add flavor to jellies, liqueurs, fruit salads, and cold drinks. The dried leaves make a tea that reportedly soothes cold symptoms, fevers, and headaches. The strongly scented leaves are also used in perfumes and natural cosmetics, and their juice takes the sting out of insect bites. Fruit growers sometimes plant lemon balm in orchards to attract bees to pollinate their crops. It grows best in infertile, moist soils in slightly shady areas, but will tolerate drought, full sun, and moderate shade. Plants can survive winter temperatures as low as -34°C (-30°F), but grow poorly in semitropical and tropical regions.

Lemon balm is a perennial herb—that is, one that lives at least three years. It is bushy and upright, reaching a height of about 1 m (about 3 ft). The soft, hairy leaves are 2 to 8 cm (0.8 to 3.0 in) long and either heart-shaped or rounded at the base and pointed at the tip. The leaf surface is coarse and deeply veined, and the leaf edge is scalloped or toothed. The leaves grow on the stem in pairs, opposite each other. Clusters of 4 to 12 small, white or pale pink flowers blossom in the summer. Like other plants in the mint family, lemon balm flowers consist of a long tube divided at the end into two flaring lips. Because lemon balm reseeds freely, it can become weedy in a garden.

Scientific classification: Lemon balm belongs to the family Lamiaceae (formerly Labiatae). It is classified as Melissa officinalis.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plant: Cell Structure And Function

-
Image
Plant Cell Plant cells contain a variety of membrane-bound structures called organelles. These include a nucleus that carries genetic material; mitochondria that generate energy; ribosomes and rough endoplasmic reticulum that manufacture proteins; smooth endoplasmic reticulum that manufactures lipids used for making membranes and storing energy; and a thin lipid membrane that surrounds the cell. Plant cells also contain chloroplasts that capture energy from sunlight and a single fluid-filled vacuole that stores compounds and helps in plant growth. Plant cells are surrounded by a rigid cell wall that protects the cell and maintains its shape. The tremendous variety of plant species is, in part, a reflection of the many distinct cell types that make up individual plants. Fundamental similarities exist among all these cell types, however, and these similarities indicate the common origin and the interrelationships of the different plant species. Each individual plant cell is at
Read more

Insectivorous Plants

-
Image
Insectivorous Plants, also carnivorous plants, plants that gain some of their nutrition from animals, especially insects, captured by the plants themselves. Most occur in bogs where the soil is acid and poor in available nitrogen; capturing insects is one way of getting nitrogenous compounds without manufacturing them. At the same time, the green leaves of these plants manufacture carbohydrates. The trapping mechanism of insectivorous plants is relatively small. Therefore, prey is almost inevitably limited to small insects. Insectivorous plants are diverse and represent members of three orders of dicots : Nepenthales, Scrophulariales, and Rosales. A majority are in the Nepenthales, including the pitcher plant , sundews and the Venus's-flytrap, and East Indian pitcher plants. Others include the bladderworts, butterworts, and the Australian pitcher plant. Discussed below are the sundews and bladderworts. Certain species of fungus are known to be carnivorous as well. Venus’s-Flytrap
Read more

Parts of a flower

-
Image
All flowers share several basic features. Sepals, protective coverings that are closed over the bud before it blooms, are the outermost flower parts. One step inward lie the petals, which serve to attract pollinators using both coloration and scent-producing glands. Inside the petals are the flower's sexual organs, the stamens and pistil. Each stamen, the pollen producing part of the flower, includes an anther and a filament. At the center of the flower is the pistil, composed of a stigma, a style, and an ovary. Within the ovary is a small cavity that contains the ovule, an egg-shaped structure that, when fertilized, eventually becomes a seed. Flowers typically are composed of four parts, or whorls, arranged in concentric rings attached to the tip of the stem. From innermost to outermost, these whorls are the (1) pistil, (2) stamens, (3) petals, and (4) sepals. Pistil The innermost whorl, located in the center of the flower, is the female reproductive structure, or pistil. Often va
Read more