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Melissa (plant)

Genus of flowering plants

Summary

Genus of flowering plants

  • Mutelia Gren. ex Mutel

Melissa is a genus of perennial herbs in the family Lamiaceae. Its species are native to Europe and Asia but cultivated and naturalized in many other places. The name Melissa is derived from the Greek word μέλισσα (mélissa) meaning "honeybee", owing to the abundance of nectar in the flowers. The stems are square, like most other plants in the mint family. The leaves are borne in opposite pairs on the stems, and are usually ovate or heart-shaped and emit a lemony scent when bruised. Axillary spikes of white or yellowish flowers appear in the summer.

The most commonly grown species of this genus is Melissa officinalis, commonly known in the United States as lemon balm, and as balm in England.

Species

Source:

  1. Melissa axillaris (Benth.) Bakh.f. - China, Tibet, Taiwan, Himalayas, Indochina, Sumatra, Java
  2. Melissa flava Benth. ex Wall. - Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Himalayas of northern + Eastern India
  3. Melissa officinalis L. - Mediterranean, southwestern + central Asia from Portugal + Morocco to Tajikistan; naturalized in northern Europe, New Zealand, United States, Canada, southern South America
  4. Melissa yunnanensis C.Y.Wu & Y.C.Huang - Tibet, Yunnan

Cultivation

They are very frost hardy plants which prefer full sun or light shade if summers are hot. They are quick growing. M. officinalis has become naturalised in many parts of the world.

References

References

  1. [http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=124046 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
  2. [http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=120163 Flora of China Vol. 17 Page 225 蜜蜂花属 mi feng hua shu ''Melissa'' Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 592. 1753. ]
  3. [http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/floraspecie.php?genere=Melissa Altervista Flora Italiana, genere ''Melissa''] includes range maps for Europe and North America
  4. [http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Melissa%20officinalis.png Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution map for ''Melissa officinalis'']
  5. ''Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs''. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, Inc. 1987. p. 355.
  6. {{Cite EB1911
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

lamiaceae lamiaceae-genera botanical-taxa-named-by-carl-linnaeus
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