Melissa officinalis

Description

A perennial herbaceous rhizomatous essential oil plant with a pleasant lemon smell. Stems are four-sided, branched. The leaves are opposite, ovate, crenate-serrate, pubescent. Flowers are irregular, double-edged, white. Calyx bell-shaped. There are four stamens, a pistil with a four-part upper ovary and a long column. The fruit consists of four small ovoid nuts enclosed in a "cup". Height 50 – 120 cm.

The time of flowering. June-September.

Habitat. It grows among shrubs, on forest edges, on weeds. It is cultivated on plantations of medicinal and essential oil plants.

The part used. Leaves and tops of shoots with flowers.

The time of collection. June-September.

Chemical composition

The leaves contain essential oil (up to 0.33%) with a strong lemon smell, which includes citral, citronellal, geraniol and other substances. The leaves also contain tannins (about 5%), resin, coffee, oleanolic, ursolic acids and ascorbic acid- vitamin C (up to 150 mg). The medicinal effect of the plant depends on the essential oil, which has a calming effect.

Application

Melissa has long been widely used in folk medicine in various countries. The plant excites the appetite, increases the activity of the digestive organs, has a slight laxative and diaphoretic effect, stops nausea and vomiting, frees the stomach and intestines from gases, stops spasm, reduces and relieves pain, has a favorable effect on the heart, calms and strengthens the nervous system. The plant also regulates sexual activity, soothingly acting when overexciting sexual function. The infusion of leaves and the infusion of the tops of shoots with flowers are taken for poor gastrointestinal activity, shortness of breath, asthmatic, various neuralgic pain, migraines, insomnia, anemia, toothache, overexcitation of sexual function and painful menstruation, and as a laxative and diaphoretic.

In folk medicine of Central Asia, the infusion of leaves is taken for melancholy and anemia. It is especially recommended to take an infusion of Melissa for heart diseases. In heart patients, pain in the heart area is relieved, shortness of breath disappears, tachycardia attacks stop, blood pressure decreases, the heart rate becomes less frequent, and breathing slows down. Externally, an infusion of leaves or an infusion of the tops of shoots is used in the form of rinses for toothache and gum disease, and in the form of herbal pillows-compresses — for rheumatism, bruises and ulcers.

Method of application

1. 8 teaspoons of leaves or tops of shoots with flowers of Melissa to insist 4 hours in a closed vessel in 2 glasses of hot boiled water. Take 1/2 cup 4 times a day before meals.

2. 3 to 4 tablespoons of the tops of the shoots or leaf scald with boiling water, chop, wrap in cheesecloth. Apply pads to inflamed and sore areas.