Species
+

Melissa officinalis L.

Abeyeira, Balm, Beebalm, Common Balm

Climate known 51 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Lemon balm is a perennial herbaceous plant in the mint family. It has lemon-scented leaves, white or pale pink flowers, and contains essential oils and compounds, such as geranial and neral.

Text from Wikipedia, “Lemon balm”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Melissa

Melissa is a feminine given name. The name comes from the Greek word μέλισσα (mélissa), "bee", which in turn comes from μέλι (meli), "honey". In Hittite, melit signifies "honey". More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Melissa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Baleares, Corse, France +27
Wild records
400 in range· 36 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Jul, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
842mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 79 mm (CHELSA)
Light
4–34DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 842 mm a year, wettest December at 79 mm, driest April at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 34 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -3.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Faucibarba officinalis (L.) Dulac; Mutelia officinalis (L.) Gren.; Mutelia officinalis (L.) Gren. ex Mutel; Thymus melissa E.H.L.Krause.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (598 mm of 842 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 14.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 842 mm a year, wettest December at 79 mm, driest April at 51 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

842 mm a year at the habitat, 598 mm of it June to January. Wettest month December at 79 mm, driest April at 51 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 696 mm to 1126 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 34 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 34 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -3.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.0 °C, the absolute minimum -12.0 °C, about 23 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.8 °C in January (across the envelope cells -1.7 °C to 4.7 °C), warmest day 22.4 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 6 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul; mean night from 1 °C in Jan to 14 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 842 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 240 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -12.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost35.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)-12.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 4–34RH 60–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 240 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / 5–137 / 6–1310 / 10–1514 / 13–1818 / 17–2220 / 20–2622 / 22–2822 / 22–2919 / 18–2615 / 14–2110 / 9–166 / 5–13
Night °C1 / -2–51 / -1–53 / 2–75 / 4–99 / 8–1212 / 11–1614 / 13–1914 / 13–1911 / 11–168 / 8–135 / 3–92 / -0–6
Rain mm73 / 55–13058 / 47–10568 / 55–8551 / 47–8467 / 51–10674 / 33–9174 / 16–8875 / 25–8869 / 48–9277 / 61–11077 / 65–10879 / 66–128
DLI6 / 5–1510 / 10–2018 / 17–2928 / 27–3633 / 32–4134 / 33–4634 / 32–4729 / 28–4220 / 19–3212 / 12–227 / 6–154 / 4–12
RH %67 / 60–6865 / 59–6562 / 58–6360 / 57–6160 / 57–6160 / 58–6260 / 57–6261 / 58–6262 / 59–6364 / 61–6567 / 61–6869 / 60–69

Each figure is the median across the 240 grid cells holding the 398 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 963:3650 (41.825, 2.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -12.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 240 distinct grid cells holding the 398 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 963:3650 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.00_2.500, lapse-corrected -166 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 401 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBaleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Kirgizistan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey· introduced: Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, Romania, Baltic States, Krym, South European Russia, Ukraine, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, West Siberia, Tasmania, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, California, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Juan Fernández Is., Uruguay
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker50.809, 3.695 · in the densest population, 267 records (67% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 400 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 36 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 492 km away. 422 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 2 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 400 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Melissa officinalisMelissa officinalisMelissa officinalisMelissa officinalisMelissa officinalisMelissa officinalisMelissa officinalisMelissa officinalis

Photographs: (c) Brodie Cass Talbott, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Pere Barnola, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Gavin Slater, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Eleftherios Katsillis, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Melissa officinalis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

The cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity and polyphenolic content of some herbal teas
Reşat Apak, Kubilay Güçlü, Mustafa Özyürek, Saliha Esin Karademir (2006) · International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition
Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Melissa officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) Essential Oil
Neda Mimica‐Dukić, Biljana Božin, Marina Sokóvić, Nataša Simin (2004) · Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Aromatherapy as a Safe and Effective Treatment for the Management of Agitation in Severe Dementia
Clive Ballard, John T. O’Brien, Katharina Reichelt, Elaine K. Perry (2002) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
Melissa officinalis L. – A review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology
Abolfazl Shakeri, Amirhossein Sahebkar, Behjat Javadi (2016) · Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Chemical composition and in vitro antioxidative activity of a lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) extract
Keyvan Dastmalchi, H. J. Damien Dorman, Päivi Oinonen, Yusrida Darwis (2007) · LWT
Adverse effects of herbal medicines: an overview of systematic reviews
Paul Posadzki, Leala K. Watson, Edzard Ernst (2013) · Clinical Medicine
Medicinal Plants and Alzheimer's Disease: from Ethnobotany to Phytotherapy
Elaine K. Perry, Anne T. Pickering, Wei Wei Wang, Peter J. Houghton (1999) · Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology
Comparative study of rosmarinic acid content in some plants of Labiatae family
Homa Hajimehdipoor, Soodabeh Saeidnia, AhmadReza Gohari, MortezaPirali Hamedani (2012) · Pharmacognosy Magazine
Anti-HIV-1 Activity of Herbs in Labiatae.
Katsuhiro Yamasaki, Masami Nakano, Takuya Kawahata, Haruyo Mori (1998) · Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Modulation of mood and cognitive performance following acute administration of Melissa officinalis (lemon balm)
David O. Kennedy, Andrew Scholey, N.T.J Tildesley, Elaine K. Perry (2002) · Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior
In Vitro susceptibility ofHelicobacter pylori to botanical extracts used traditionally for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders
Gail B. Mahady, Susan L. Pendland, Adenia Stoia, Frank A. Hamill (2005) · Phytotherapy Research

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 16 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.