Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is a gentle but effective mood-lifting and anxiety-reducing plant that supports the nervous system. Lemon balm is categorised as a nervine in that it supports the nervous system. Regular use of plants with nervine properties may have quick positive effects, but also tend to encourage a calmer, happier state over the long term with no side effects.

Having a mild bitter effect, Melissa can also heal and strengthen the digestive system which reinforces the interconnectedness of the nervous system and the gut.

As a popular spreading garden plant, Melissa officinalis can be used when fresh. The important essential oil lives in the glands along the leaf surface and can be lost through drying the plant. Lemon balm is a useful home grown herb for a medicinal garden as a fast growing, low growing plant.

The scent of lemon balm can be infused as an oil by freezing the whole leaf stems in your home freezer to use as a ‘fresh’ infusion through the winter.

Melissa is ideal for the relief of stress and low mood. It has also shown activity against the herpes family of viruses, and so can be applied to the management of cold sores and shingles.

Safe in pregnancy and for children, it is an ideal ingredient in digestive, nervous and restless complaints, and is usually well tolerated due to its lovely smell 

Melissa Infused Oil Recipe

Measure out three times the amount of oil you wish to end up with (you will lose some in the straining off process).

Place some leaves of fresh lemon balm into the oil and warm the oil slowly for up to 12 hours, taking care to keep it covered.

Remove the lid carefully and pass the oil and leaves through a sieve lined with butter muslin. Collect the warm infused oil in another clean dry vessel, trying to avoid any dark droplets of oil at the bottom of your pan (these will be water from the fresh plant, and will spoil the oil).

Repeat the process using your collected first infusion, and keep going until you are happy that you have a good scent of Melissa now in your oil.

Use the oil as part of any cosmetic product, or simply as an oil directly on the skin. It can be applied directly to cold sores for example

Products that contain Melissa