I just love Melissa. And not only because of its aroma, but also because it is an excellent food for bees, but also because an aqueous infusion of its herb with sugar could easily reconcile two bee families, it was only necessary to sprinkle them with this liquid.
Melissa officinalis is a perennial rhizomatous herbaceous plant with quadrangular, strongly branched stems 80-100 cm (2.6-3.3 ft) high. The leaves are opposite, dark green, paler from below, covered with glandular hairs, ovate, toothed at the edges, with a wrinkled surface. The flowers are small, white or pink, collected in false whorls, located in the axils of 6-12 upper leaves; they bloom in June-August, in the second year of life. Fruits are harvested nuts; ripen in August-September.
Decorative varieties:
- “AllGold” (Golden-yellow leaves, white flowers, later pale lilac),
- “Aurea” (dark green leaves with Golden streaks).
I always cut Melissa’s hair several times a season. With regular pruning (2-3 times during the growing season) at a height of 10 cm (3.9 in) from the soil surface, it grows rapidly and forms dense beautiful borders. It can be used for planting on a spicy bed, in a border of mixtures, where the real highlights of the compositions can be yellow figures. Planting scheme 70 x 30 cm (2.3-1 ft), sowing depth 1-1.5 cm (0.4-0.6 in). It can grow in one place for up to 10 years. Prefers loamy and sandy loam, fertile soils.
Melissa is cultivated, often wild with spicy, medicinal, honey-bearing and ornamental (varieties) plants. In therapeutic and preventive nutrition, fresh and dried young leaves with a delicate aroma with lemon flavor are used (seasoning for salads, soups, sauces, eggs, fish, poultry, pickles; flavoring vinegar, tea mixtures, compotes, juices, jams, jams, jams). Collected during flowering, they have an effective sedative, antispasmodic, secretolytic, anti-inflammatory, bacteriostatic, antiviral, hypotensive, restorative effect.
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