Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) has been called the herb that makes the heart merry. Herbalists who worked with it centuries ago wrote this, and it captures something that anyone who has spent real time with the plant recognizes. There is a gentle, lifting quality to it, a lightness that does not sedate or blunt but simply eases the weight of things.
The Greek name Melissa means bee, and if you have ever stood near a patch of lemon balm in flower, you understand why. The bees are constant. They love it with a devotion that is almost comical, and in this they are not wrong.
The Character
Lemon balm is a member of the mint family: a vigorous perennial that spreads enthusiastically and would fill a garden bed if you let it (best grown in a contained area or a large pot). The leaves, when rubbed between the fingers, release fresh lemon with an underlying sweetness that is entirely its own.
As a nervine relaxant it is gentle enough for children and for all but the most sensitive constitutions. Its quality is more like being gently reassured. For the person whose anxiety has a quality of scattered, jangled unease, or who feels stress particularly in their digestion (the nervous stomach, the gut that tightens under pressure), lemon balm addresses both dimensions simultaneously.
The Antiviral Dimension
Lemon balm is one of the better-studied herbs for antiviral activity, particularly against herpes simplex viruses. Topical preparations and internal use have been studied with reasonably consistent positive results, making it one of the few herbs where the antiviral folk tradition holds up well to contemporary research. This dimension surprises many people who thought of it only as a nervine.
How to Work With It
Fresh lemon balm is significantly more aromatic and medicinally potent than dried, and using fresh leaves when in season always produces noticeably better results. A handful of fresh leaves in a cup, covered and steeped in just-off-the-boil water for ten minutes, is a different drink from dried lemon balm. For a tincture, a fresh-plant preparation in high-proof spirit captures the volatile oils that are otherwise partially lost in drying. The Herbalist Codex app has the full profile, including its place in Renaissance European herbalism (where it was used in preparations for longevity and happiness), its antiviral research, and all preparation methods in detail.