An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Melissa officinalis

Melissa officinalis (Lamiaceae)

Common Names
Balm; Lemonbalm; Melissa; Bee Balm
How this plant is used
Generally Recognized as Safe

Select a Results View:

View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
CIS-OCIMENE 3 Shoot 1.0 24.0 -0.35 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
CIS-ROSE-OXIDE 0 Shoot 0.0 8.0 *
CIS-ROSENOXIDE 0 Shoot 1.0 8.0 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
CITRAL 53 Shoot List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
CITRAL-A 0 Shoot 10.0 700.0 Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
CITRAL-B 0 Shoot 15.0 900.0 Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
CITRONELLAL 20 Shoot 1.0 2900.0 -0.20 *
CITRONELLIC-ACID 0 Shoot 3.0 24.0 -0.23 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
CITRONELLIC-ACID-METHYL-ESTER 0 Shoot 0.0 145.0 *
CITRONELLOL 15 Shoot 0.0 80.0 -0.17 *
COPAENE 1 Plant 4.0 120.0 1.56 *
COSMOSIIN 4 Shoot *
CYNAROSIDE 3 Shoot *
DAMASCENONE 0 Shoot *
DEHYDROABIETANE 3 Shoot *
DELTA-CADINENE 9 Shoot 1.0 145.0 1.01 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
DELTA-CADINOL 1 Shoot 1.0 16.0 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
DELTA-OCTALACTONE 0 Tissue Culture Gbolade, A.A. and Lockwood, G.B. 1991. The Constituents of Melissa officinalis L. Cultures. J. Ess. Oil Res., 3: 111-114.
E-BETA-FANESENE 0 Shoot 3.0 24.0 *
EO 0 Shoot 100.0 8000.0 -0.21 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
CSV
EXCEL
PDF
List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
ABeta-Inhibitor 1 *
Abortifacient 1 *
Acaricide 6 *
ACE-Inhibitor 3 *
AChE-Inhibitor 1 Grundy, D. L. and Still, C. C., Inhibition of acetylcholinesterases by pulegone-1,2-epoxide, Oest. Biochem. & Physiol., 23, 1985, 383-8.
Acidulant 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Additive 1 Aloe Research Council - Duke writeup of non-peer reviewd book by Coats and draft by Henry
Adenylate-Cyclase-Inhibitor 1 *
Aldose-Reductase-Inhibitor 12 Shimizu, M., Ito, T., Terashima, S., Hayashi, T., Arisawa, M., Morita, N., Kurokawa, S., Ito, K., and Hashimoto, Y. 1984. Inhibition of Lens Aldose Reductase by Flavonoids. Phytochemistry, 23: 1885-1888.
Allelochemic 2 *
Allelopathic 2 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Allergenic 14 *
Alpha-Glucosidase-Inhibitor 1 *
Analgesic 7 *
Ancylostomicide 1 Madaus, G. 1976. Lehrbuch der Biologischen Hilfmittel. Vol,. 1-3. 2862 pp. (+ 144 p. index). Georg Olms Verlag, Hildescheim. Reprint of 1938 Madaus.
Androgenic 1 *
Anesthetic 5 *
Angiogenic 1 *
Ankylostomacide 1 Madaus, G. 1976. Lehrbuch der Biologischen Hilfmittel. Vol,. 1-3. 2862 pp. (+ 144 p. index). Georg Olms Verlag, Hildescheim. Reprint of 1938 Madaus.
Anorexic 1 Martindale's 28th