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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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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
Antibacterial 29 Revista Itiliana Eppos, 12: 5, 1994.
Antibronchitic 1 Madaus, G. 1976. Lehrbuch der Biologischen Hilfmittel. Vol,. 1-3. 2862 pp. (+ 144 p. index). Georg Olms Verlag, Hildescheim. Reprint of 1938 Madaus.
Anticancer 7 *
Anticancer (Breast) 1 Madhavi, D. L., Bomser, J., Smith, M., Singletary, K. 1998. Isolation of Bioactive Constituents from Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry) Fruits and Cell Cultures. Plant Sci., 131(1): 95-103.
Anticancer (Cervix) 2 Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of the Tropics. Leeuwenberg, A.J.M., ed. Pudoc, Wageningen. 1987.
Anticancer (Colon) 2 *
Anticancer (Forestomach) 1 *
Anticancer (Liver) 1 *
Anticancer (Lung) 1 *
Anticancer (Pancreas) 1 *
Anticancer (Skin) 1 *
Anticarcinogenic 2 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 6: 189.
Anticarcinomic 2 Chiang, L. C., Chiang, W., Chang, M. Y., Ng, L. T., Lin, C. C. 2003. Antileukemic activity of selected natural products in Taiwan. Am J Chin Med, 31(1):37-46.
Anticariogenic 7 Muroi, H. and Kubo, I. 1993. Combination Effects of Antibacterial Compounds in Green Tea Flavor against Streptococcus mutans. J. Agric. Food Chem. 41: 1102-1105.
Anticholestatic 1 Shukla, B., Visen, P.K.S., Patnaik, G.K., Tripathi, S.C., Srimal, R.C., Dayal, R., and Dobhal, P.C. Hepatoprotective Activity in the Rat of Ursolic Acid Isolated from Eucalyptus Hybrid. Phytotherapy Research 6: 74-79, 1992.
Anticholinesterase 1 L. Gracza (1985) as cited by Buchbauer re antiacetylcholinesterase.
Anticlastogen 2 *
Anticoagulant 1 Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
Anticolic 1 *
Anticomplement 2 Hansel, R., Keller, K., Rimpler, H., and Schneider, G. eds. 1992. Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Drogen (A-D), 1209 pp., 1993 (E-O), 970 pp., 1994 (P-Z), 1196 pp. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.