Melissa (plant)
Lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis)
The lemon balm ( Melissa ) are a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae ( Lamiaceae), which includes four kinds. The best known species of this genus is the lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis).
The name " Melissa " is derived from the Greek word for honey bee ( Melitta ). Because bees are attracted apparently by the plant was traditionally planted lemon balm of bees worldwide. The hives themselves were also rubbed with the sap, which should counteract due to the antiseptic effect of the spread of disease.
Description
The balm species are perennial, herbaceous plants. The frills, oval or heart-shaped leaves sit alternately along the stems and fragrant lemon-like to the touch.
The flowers are zygomorphic and are in few-flowered, axillary Scheinquirlen. The cup is tube amps to bell-shaped, has 13 nerves and is double lip with a flat, short - tridentate top and a bidentate lower lip. The corolla is two-lipped. The corolla tube is bent upward flared and expanded above the middle. The throat does not have a hair wreath. The upper lip is erect or recurved, flat arched up slightly, emarginate. The color is white, yellowish or pale pink. The lower lip is three-lobed. Stamens and style are longer than the corolla tube, therefore visible. There are four fertile stamens, two long and two shorter, which together own. The stylus branches have the same length ±.
Types and distribution
In Melissa species, there are only four species Eurasian used:
- Lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis L.): It is spread from Europe and North Africa, Southwest Asia to central Asia.
- Melissa axillaris ( Benth. ) Bakh. f: It is distributed from Nepal to southern China and Malaysia's.
- Melissa flava Benth. It occurs in the Himalayas and Tibet.
- Melissa yunnanensis CYWu & YCHuang: It occurs in Tibet and Yunnan.
Use as a medicinal plant
The lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis) has been used in ancient times as a medicinal plant. Later, the Benedictine monks brought this plant from the Mediterranean regions of the Alps and planted them from now on because of their health effects in the monastery gardens. The active ingredients of the balm leaves are used in wide range of complaints - for example internally for colds, difficulty falling asleep or nervous gastrointestinal or cardiovascular symptoms. The external application has proven itself in muscular tension.