Lemon Balm

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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.

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