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Melissa officinalis
Also called Balm, Common Balm, Beebalm, Melissa, Garden Balm, Sweet Balm, Tea Balm
Lemon balm is a bushy, perennial herb in the mint family with lemon-scented leaves, grown for teas, cooking and as an ornamental. It grows easily from seed or cuttings in rich, moist soil and spreads vigorously.
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family. It has lemon-scented leaves, white or pale pink flowers, and contains essential oils and compounds, such as geranial and neral.
It grows to a maximum height of 1 m (3+1⁄2 ft). The species is native to south-central Europe, the Mediterranean, Central Asia, and Iran. It is naturalized worldwide. It grows easily from seed in rich, moist soil.
Lemon balm seeds requires light and a minimum temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) to germinate. The plant grows in clumps and spreads vegetatively (a new plant growing from a fragment of its parent), as well as by seed. In mild temperate zones, the plant stems die off at the start of winter, but shoot up again in spring. Lemon balm grows vigorously.
As of 1992, Hungary, Egypt, and Italy are the major producing countries of lemon balm. The leaves are harvested by hand in June and August in the northern hemisphere, on a day when the weather is dry, to prevent the crop from turning black if damp.
Melissa officinalis is native to south-central Europe, the Mediterranean Basin, Central Asia and Iran, but is now naturalized in the Americas and elsewhere around the world. It grows easily from seed, preferring rich, moist soil.
Lemon balm is used as a flavouring in ice cream and herbal teas, often in combination with other herbs, such as spearmint. The leaves can be used in fish dishes and lemon balm pesto.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lemon balm by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
