Melissa-like plant. Mint and lemon balm - how to distinguish plants

Melissa is grown on most household plots. This plant does not need special care, grows well and brings many benefits to people. What are the differences between lemon balm and mint? Before comparing these plants, let's take a closer look at the properties of the first of them.

About Melissa

Melissa is an excellent stress reliever. It calms the nerves and helps to relax. This is an excellent occasion to drink tea from this herb upon arrival at a suburban area before starting work. It's better if it's fresh. In May-June, the maximum amount of useful substances is concentrated in lemon balm. Among the people, it is known by such names: honey, mother liquor, bee,

Before considering the difference between lemon balm and mint, it is worth mentioning that the healing properties of both plants are unique. The experience of their use in traditional medicine exceeds 2 millennia. Melissa and mint are quite similar to each other, as they belong to the same family - Lamiaceae.

Melissa tea

The easiest and most useful way to relax after a hard day at work is to enjoy a cup of tea with lemon balm outside the city. A drink with fresh herbs will help quench your thirst, normalize water balance, calm down and relax. Such a pastime encourages passive relaxation and pleasant reflection.

In Eastern countries, it is customary to brew healthy herbs without adding tea leaves. The easiest way is to place a bunch of freshly cut leaves in a teapot and steam it with boiling water. The container is covered with a warm towel and left to brew for a few minutes.

Mint and lemon balm (differences, photos and properties are presented in the article) help people suffering from diseases of the nervous system, and they are also used for preventive purposes. In megacities, where most residents face stress, such a drink becomes indispensable. If every day at night you drink a glass of tea with lemon balm, then soon a state of calm and confidence will come. Another property of the infusion is the normalization of sleep. It is advisable to drink the drink slowly, adding a spoonful of honey to it.

You can experiment with this plant by brewing it together with others. There are lovers of making melissa infusions with chamomile, valerian, mint, as well as with traditional black or green tea.

Melissa and mint: differences

It is not always possible for a simple person without special education to distinguish these plants. Some, not fully understanding, take one for the other. These plants have many external similarities and similar medicinal properties. They belong to the same family, so the differences should be sought in the details.

Mint has a specific pronounced smell of menthol. Its leaves have a pointed shape and a richer green color. They contain up to 3% essential. Mint flowers form inflorescences resembling an ear. The surface of the leaf blades is smooth. The stem is straight.

Melissa has a branched stem that has a tetrahedral shape. Its surface is strewn with tiny hairs. The aroma of the plant is not as sharp as that of mint, vaguely reminiscent of lemon. Flowers form inflorescences called false rings. Leaf blades are velvety, and their color is pale, almost white.

Listing what differences melissa and mint have, one cannot fail to mention another plant similar to them. It is called like this: catnip. It has a specific aroma and a bitter spicy taste. From the name it becomes clear that pets are not indifferent to this plant.

What is remarkable about lemon balm. The differences and similarities of these plants listed above clearly indicate the usefulness of each of them.

Advantages

The effect on the body of these plants is very similar. Interestingly, lemon balm more effectively copes with inflammatory processes. However, traditional medicine most often resorts to the help of mint.

Having learned that lemon balm also has differences in appearance, lovers of medicinal infusions will be able to distinguish them. Mint is widely used in cooking to add flavor to dishes. Melissa serves as an alternative to allspice. Both plants are great for drinks and teas.

In their summer cottages, amateur gardeners willingly grow various aromatic herbs. Many of these plants belong to the Lamiaceae (or Lamiaceae) family. They are beautiful and useful: they are good in a flower bed, and brew them with tea, and add them to jam ... And on occasion, you can be treated with them! Basil and mint, hyssop and lavender, sage and anafalis and many others. And the most common among them are catnip and lemon balm. They are often confused. In fact, these plants are very similar. It is all the more important to talk about them and understand the differences. Read the description carefully and you will understand what you grow lemon balm or catnip.

CAT BOTTLE (Nepeta cataria L.) is a mysterious plant in all respects. It is considered aboriginal in our country, but at the same time it does not grow in forests and meadows, but in wastelands and along trails, and this is how adventitious plants grow, from alien flora.

The name is catnip, or catnip, and at the same time, cats do not show any interest in it (let alone valerian, wheatgrass and some other cereals!).

The plant has a distinct aromatic lemon smell, but it seems to be of no use to it from this smell ...

Let's consider it in more detail.

Catnip is a perennial herbaceous plant with a branched rhizome, hard and almost woody. Upright above-ground shoots up to half a meter high (and even higher in culture) depart from the rhizome. They are pubescent, tetrahedral, with opposite branches and opposite leaves (photo 3).

The leaves of the catnip are ovate, pointed, with a heart-shaped base. Remember this sign (photo 6). The plates are serrated, pubescent, on petioles, only the uppermost sessile, narrowed at the base.

The flowers are collected in whorls, which, in turn, are collected in short brushes on the tops of the shoots of its upper branches (photo 1).

The flower structure is typical for most Lamiaceae. Calyx cleft, 57 mm long, bell-shaped, slightly bent, with five teeth and 15 veins.

Corolla irregular, two-lipped, protruding from the calyx. It is up to 10 mm long, white-pink. The upper lip is almost flat, forked, the lower one is three-lobed. Inside the corolla are four stamens. Two of them, located at the upper lip, are longer than the other two. Pestle one, its column with a two-lobed stigma. The ovary is upper, four-lobed, so the fruitlet consists of four nuts. The catnip blooms from June until almost September.

The leaves and stems of catnip contain an essential oil that gives it a fragrance, as well as other medicinal substances, which is why it is used in folk medicine.

In addition to the usual form, in nature you can find a form with an intense lemon smell, which gardeners often transplant to their plots.

Now let's try to reveal the secrets of the catnip. This plant of the forest-steppe and in its natural form grows along the edges of the steppe oak forests, which we almost do not have left. It is brought to our north; partly unintentional, partly beneficial, aromatic. Here the catnip ran wild and, like any alien and wild plant, took refuge in open places. That is why there are many of them in the wastelands.

Now about its name. In the popular nomenclature of plants, many herbs, somewhat similar to well-known useful plants, have pejorative names. Such is bird's buckwheat, which has seeds similar to buckwheat, but very small, which fit only birds to eat. Such is the mouse pea, the seeds of which are so similar to the seeds of real peas, only small and bitter. Such is catnip, the smell of which is so reminiscent of real mint.

By the way, about the smell of many aromatic plants: the smell is useful not only for people, but also for the plants themselves. The fact is that this aroma repels herbivores. Neither mint, nor oregano, nor catnip does not eat cattle.

And now MELISSA DRUG (Melissa officinalis L.). In its appearance, it is very similar to a catnip. This is also a perennial herbaceous plant with a developed rhizome. Blooms at the same time. The same fruits. Same lemon scent. Above-ground shoots are the same height as those of the catnip, and also branch. The leaves are also opposite.

The flowers of lemon balm are also collected in whorls, and the whorls in the brush, but they are not so thick, spaced (photo 2). Inflorescence leafy.

Outwardly, the plants are very similar, what is the similarity:

Both plants are herbaceous perennials.
Reach the same height of shoots.
The leaves are opposite.
They have a well-developed rhizome.
Flowering occurs at the same time.
They have a similar lemon flavor.

However, there are also enough differences by which to determine what kind of plant is in front of us:

Leaf shape: Melissa leaves are ovoid and rounded at the base, while catnip has a heart-shaped cutout at the base of the leaf.
The flowers of both plants are collected in whorls, and the whorls in the brush, but in lemon balm they are less dense and arranged in tiers, and in catnip, the brush resembles a spikelet in shape.
Lemon balm leaves have a very pleasant green color, while catnip leaves, due to pubescence with short hairs, have a slightly grayish, as it were, "gray" shade.

We offer you to watch a video about the distinctive features of lemon balm and catnip:

Benefits and chemical composition

lemon mint

Melissa has long been used in both folk and official medicine. The range of application of lemon balm is very wide.:

It is used as a hypnotic, analgesic, anticonvulsant and antiemetic.
Melissa is very effective for painful menstruation, migraines.
Due to the high content of potassium and magnesium, it is successfully used as an adjunct in the treatment of heart patients: such unpleasant symptoms as tachycardia, shortness of breath, and pain in the cardiac region are amenable to it.

Rich in vitamins B, A and C:

Zinc - 1.09 mg.
Copper - 0.24 mg.
Iron - 11.97 mg.
Phosphorus - 60 mg.
Sodium - 30 mg.
Magnesium - 63 mg.
Calcium - 199 mg.
Potassium - 458 mg.

We offer you to watch a video about the benefits of lemon balm:

Cat mint

It is successfully used as an anti-inflammatory, expectorant, anesthetic, choleretic agent. It has a very pronounced sedative effect, since it contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals that help strengthen the nervous system:

Vitamin A - 165 mcg.
Vitamin C - 19 mg.
Vitamin B2 - 0.11 mg.
Vitamin B6 - 0.08 mg.
Vitamin B9 - 78 mcg.
Vitamin PP - 5.9 mg.

Iron - 14.5 mg.
Phosphorus - 67 mg.
Sodium - 34 mg.
Magnesium - 78 mg.
Calcium - 160 mg.
Potassium - 670 mg.

Photo

Photo of Melissa:

Photo of catnip:

What is the difference in benefits?

The field of application of lemon balm and catnip is in many ways similar: both plants are successfully used to regulate the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, as sedatives and anti-inflammatory drugs.

But there are also differences:

As a sedative, catnip is more effective, while lemon balm is recommended for women who want to establish a menstrual cycle or who are hard on critical days.
Melissa slows down the heart rate, lowers blood pressure. Kotovnik, on the contrary, makes the heart beat faster.

Harm

It is strongly not recommended for hypotensive patients, as it reduces pressure even more.
Due to the strong sedative effect, it is not recommended for those who, by the nature of their work, require increased concentration of attention, speed of reaction and physical activity.
An overdose threatens with nausea, diarrhea, muscle weakness and drowsiness.
Do not use in case of individual intolerance to the components of the plant.

Kotovnik:

Do not use during pregnancy, as its action can lead to miscarriage.
It should not be consumed during lactation, as it greatly reduces the amount of milk in the mammary glands.
With increased pressure, since the use of catnip decoction increases it even more, and also increases tachycardia.
You can not use before you get behind the wheel, because the strong calming effect of the decoction negatively affects the speed of reaction and concentration.
Cannot be used in case of individual intolerance to the plant.

Differences in contraindications

Contraindications to the use of catnip and lemon balm have both similarities and differences: in particular, they are united by a strong sedative effect, which makes it impossible to use them, for example, by drivers or athletes.

Both plants can be strong allergens Therefore, they should be used carefully, starting with small doses.

However, there are differences, primarily related to the effects on the cardiovascular system and blood pressure.

Plant interchangeability

For some medicinal purposes, for example, as a sedative or anti-inflammatory agent, it is quite possible to use the decoction that is available or tastes better. At the same time, following an important rule: you always need to know exactly which decoction of the plant you are drinking.

As for the use for culinary purposes, there are also some differences here, which, however, do not interfere too much with replacing one tea with another: the aroma of lemon balm is more subtle and is less preserved when dried, the aroma of catnip is stronger and rougher due to the higher content of essential oils.

Although it is possible to combine plants, brewing catnip and lemon balm at the same time, it is rather pointless, since the smell of catnip will clog the delicate aroma of mint. Strengthening the medicinal properties of these plants will also not happen.

Each of these plants in its own way is beautiful and worthy of growing on a personal plot, both as a decoration and as a useful spice that will delight the owner with beautiful greenery in summer and fragrant tea in winter.

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Feb 13th, 2011

Recently re-read the old magazine "Beekeeping" (from my grandfather there were two files for 1989 and 1990). In No. 4 for 1989, an interesting note was found "Melissa or catnip?". Here's what it turned out: it's not melissa in the recording, but catnip! Not lemon balm(Melissa officinalis) at all, but common catnip(Nepeta cataria), as in the photos in this post…

It turns out that honey bees extract nectar from lemon balm flowers with great difficulty, bumblebees absorb most of it. Melissa has a lemon smell before flowering, and during and after flowering it acquires an unpleasant smell ... Melissa honey productivity is 130-200 kg per hectare. So, honey bees take nectar from lemon balm flowers, where does the data on its honey productivity come from?

The catnip is eagerly visited by honey bees, which is observed every year in the apiary. Lemon smell persists in dried plants (which is also observed, or rather felt). Honey productivity is 160-400 kg per hectare of plantations.

In the photographs - a honey bee on catnip flowers.

Distinguish lemon balm from lemon catnip you can visually - catnip has much more flowers. If only one species of some plant out of these two is in sight, but there is no certainty, then it can be distinguished by seeds. Catnip has two white dots on a dark small seed. What happens? I have never seen Melissa...