Balm
Melissa officinalis
Common Names: Balm mint, bee balm, blue balm, cure-all, dropsy plant, garden balm, lemon balm, melissa, sweet balm.
Medicinal Parts: Herb, leaves.
Description: Balm is a perennial plant that is common in the Mediterranean area and the Near East but is also naturalized in some places in the U.S. Mostly it is cultivated as a culinary herb, but it grows wild in fields and gardens and along roadsides. The stem is upright, hairy, quadrangular, and branched and grows as high as 3 feet. The leaves are opposite, ovate, long-petioled, somewhat hairy, bluntly serrate, and acuminate. The bilabiate flowers grow in axillary clusters and may vary in color from pale yellow to rose colored or blue-white. The flowering time is July and August. When bruised, the whole plant smells like lemon.
Properties and Uses: Antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, stomachic. Balm is a remedy for common female complaints and is useful for all sorts of nervous problems, hysteria, melancholy, and insomnia. Use balm tea to relieve cramps, dyspepsia, flatulence, colic, chronic bronchial catarrh, and some forms of asthma. Try it also for migraine and toothache and, during pregnancy, for headaches and dizziness. The warm infusion has diaphoretic effects. An infusion of the leaves added to bath water is also said to promote the onset of menstruation. Use the crushed leaves as a poultice for sores, tumors, milk-knots, and insect bites. Balm is also used in herb pillows because of its agreeable odor.
Preparation and Dosage: Collect the plant before or after flowering. The fresh plant is more effective than the dried.
Infusion: Use 2 tsp. chopped herb or leaves to 1 cup boiling water. Drink warm, as required. Cold Extract: Use 2 tbsp. per cup of cold water; let stand 8 hours.
Tincture: The dose is ½ to 1 tsp.
Powder: Take 10 to 40 grains at a time.
