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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

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View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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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
(+)-CITRONELLAL 0 Shoot 2.0 975.0 *
1,2-HUMULENE-EPOXIDE 0 Shoot 0.1 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
1-OCTEN-3-OL 0 Shoot 0.0 50.0 -0.42 *
10-(ALPHA)-CADINOL 0 Plant 1.0 8.0 -1.00 *
2-PHENYLETHANOL 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.
2Z,4E,6E-ALLOFARNESENE 0 Shoot 0.1 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
3-OCTANOL 2 Shoot 0.0 8.0 -0.29 *
3-OCTANONE 0 Shoot 1.0 15.0 -0.24 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
3E,6E-ALPHA-FARNESENE 0 Shoot 5.0 40.0 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
6-METHYL-5-HEPTEN-2-ONE 0 Shoot 3.0 24.0 2.40 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
ALPHA-CADINENE 0 Shoot 0.1 -0.50 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
ALPHA-CADINOL 3 Shoot 1.0 120.0 1.51 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
ALPHA-COPAENE 0 Shoot 2.0 120.0 1.03 *
ALPHA-CUBEBENE 0 Shoot 0.1 38.0 0.44 *
ALPHA-HUMULENE 2 Shoot 1.0 80.0 0.35 *
ALPHA-MUUROLENE 0 Shoot 3.0 24.0 -0.07 Deutsche Apot. Ziit. 129(4):155-163. W. Schulze et al. Die Melisse.
ALPHA-TERPINEOL 23 Shoot *
ANETHOL 0 Shoot *
APIGENIN-7-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE 0 Shoot *
BENZALDEHYDE 24 Tissue Culture Gbolade, A.A. and Lockwood, G.B. 1991. The Constituents of Melissa officinalis L. Cultures. J. Ess. Oil Res., 3: 111-114.
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
Download these results as:
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EXCEL
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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
Anthelmintic 2 Williamson, E. M. and Evans, F. J., Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations, Revised Ed., Saffron Walden, the C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., Essex UK, 362 pp, 1988, reprint 1989.
Antiacetylcholinesterase 3 *
Antiacne 3 Nigg, H.N. and Seigler, D.S., eds. 1992. Phytochemical Resources for Medicine and Agriculture. Plenum Press, New York. 445 pp.
Antiadenomic 2 Merck 11th Edition
Antiadenoviral 1 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 5: 207.
Antiaflatoxin 1 *
Antiaggregant 5 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Antiaging 1 *
Antiallergenic 1 *
Antiallergic 4 Huang, K. C. 1993. The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 388 pp.
Antialzheimeran 2 Ringbom, T., Seguar, L., Noreen, Y., Perera, P., Bohlin, L. 1998. Ursolic Acid from Plantago major, a Selective Inhibitor of Cyclooxygenase-2 Catalyzed Prostaglandin Biosynthesis. J. Nat. Prod., 61(10): 1212-1215.
Antialzheimeran? 2 Grundy, D. L. and Still, C. C., Inhibition of acetylcholinesterases by pulegone-1,2-epoxide, Oest. Biochem. & Physiol., 23, 1985, 383-8.
Antianaphylactic 3 Int. J. Immunopharmacology. Vol 10: 729, 1988.
Antiandrogenic 1 Malini, T. and Vanithakumari, G. 1989. Rat Toxicity Studies With B-Sitosterol. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 28: 221-234, 1990.
Antiarachidonate 1 *
Antiarrhythmic 3 Advance in Chinese Medicinal Materials Research. 1985. Eds. H. M. Chang, H. W. Yeung, W. -W. Tso and A. Koo. World Scientific Publishing Co., Philadelphia Pa., page 407.
Antiarthritic 2 Planta Medica, 57: A56, 1991.
Antiasthmatic 2 *
Antiatherogenic 1 *
Antiatherosclerotic 4 *