Lemon Balm, or just Balm, was brought over to this country for its delightful scent and flavor and for its supposed medicinal properties. It was believed to cure melancholy, among other things, and certainly gathering a handful and making a tisane from it is a good way to raise one’s spirits. Often planted in herb gardens, it easily escapes, and the tiny seeds wash downhill and form colonies anywhere they find a foothold. It can become quite weedy, but its delightful scent and many uses make it hard to resent. These plants were growing along a fence and by a sidewalk in Beechview.
The name Melissa, from the Greek word for a bee, reminds us that this plant makes bees happy, too, and who doesn’t want happy bees?
For a description of the species, see the Melissa officinalis reference page.
