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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
Antiobesity 1 *
Antiobesity? 1 Internat. J. Oriental Med. 16: 4.
Antiophidic 3 Economic & Medicinal Plant Research, 5: 363.
Antioxidant 15 *
Antioxidant (LDL) 2 *
Antipeptic 1 *
Antiperiodontic 3 *
Antiperoxidant 6 Planta Medica, 57: A54, 1991.
AntiPGE2 1 *
Antiplaque 4 *
Antiplasmodial 3 *
Antipolio 1 Jim Duke's personal files.
Antiprogestational 1 Malini, T. and Vanithakumari, G. 1989. Rat Toxicity Studies With B-Sitosterol. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 28: 221-234, 1990.
Antiproliferant 4 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.
Antiproliferative 1 *
Antiprostaglandin 5 *
Antiprostatadenomic 1 Merck 11th Edition
Antiprostatitic 1 *
Antiproteolytic 1 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.
Antipulmonotic 1 Tyler, V.E.. 1994.