Melissa officinalis
Lemon balm is a lemon-scented mint-family herb. Its soft leaves have a volatile citrus-herbal aroma that fades with prolonged drying and storage.1
It is related to mint and shares the family’s square stems and aromatic oils, but its characteristic note is lemon rather than menthol.
The flowers are edible as well as the leaves. Its genus name, Melissa, comes from the Greek word for honeybee, a nod to the small nectar-rich flowers rather than to any honey in the leaf.2
Its lemon impression is not a single flavor compound but a blend of citrusy and floral terpenes, including citronellal, citronellol, citral, and geraniol. That combination accounts for the leaf’s simultaneous lemon, rose-like, and green-herbal qualities.3
Footnotes
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University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Let’s Preserve: Dried Herbs,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
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University of Minnesota Extension, “Edible Flowers,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
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Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. (Scribner, 2004), PDF p. 417. ↩