L e m o n   B a l m Melissa Officinalis
Also known as: Common Balm, Melissa, Sweet Balm, Balm Mint,Blue Balm, Dropsy Plant, Garden Balm		Semi-hardy perennial; annual in colder climates Height: 20 - 80 cm, can reach 1.5m; spread to 60 cm Loosely branched, with upright growth habit Magickal Properties:  Love, Success, Healing, Sympathy Medicinal Properties:  Antispasmodic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic, emmenagogue, stomachic, febrifuge, sedative, antidepressant, nervine.  Shares many of the medicinal properties of honey and royal jelly. Recommended Preparation:  Infusion, Cold extract, Extract, Tincture, Powder

Lemon balm is a wonderful plant to have in the garden.  It has a refreshing lemony scent, and is beautiful when in bloom.  It can be started indoors from seed or from purchased seedlings.  Never buy a seedling in bloom.  Get at least two plants - they're not terribly invasive, but do tend to get bushy, so give them a little space.  It might look sparse to begin with, but they will fill out in a year or two.  Plant them in early spring; strong seedlings can withstand a light frost.  If you're going to start them from seed, keep them in a cold frame for a few weeks before planting.  They require full sun, but will tolerate partial shade.  Gold or variegated species prefer the partial shade.  The plant will self-seed, so you may also want to grow it in a pot, or give it its own bed.
Lemon balm will require regular prunings, and it helps keep the plant in control.  If you are growing it as a perennial, dig it up and split it every three or four years.  I cut mine in half every few years and replant them in a new spot that needs foliage.  If you have plants that aren't seeding as well as you'd like, plant lemon balm nearby.  It is wonderful for attracting bees, and gets its name from this property - "melissa" is Greek for bee.
Harvest lemon balm early in the morning, and before the flowers being to bloom.  Harvest only young leaves, as the older ones tend to be musty.  Clip individual leaves as needed, or cut sprigs and strip the leaves from the stalk.  The flowers are edible, but are seldom used.  The leaves lose their flavour if dried or stored.  The herb will have the most intense flavour if grown in poor soil, and overall growth will be thicker.  It has the apperance of glossy, deep green catnip, and it's easy to confuse the two, so if you're picking from a large herb garden, make sure you smell the leaves first.

Lemon balm is a remedy for common female complaints and is useful for all sorts of nervous problems, hysteria, melancholy, and insomnia. Use balm tea to relieve cramps, dyspepsia, flatulence, colic, liver, spleen, bladder troubles, chronic bronchial catarrh, and some forms of asthma. Try it also for migraine and toothache, and, during pregnancy, for headaches, tension, and dizziness. The warm infusion has diaphoretic effects. An infusion of the leaves added to bath water is also said to promote the onset of menstruation. It is a cooling drink for feverish colds fever, and flu. Use the crushed leaves as a poultice for sores, tumors, swellings, milk-knots, and insect bites. Balm promotes sweating, and is a valuable stand-by when fever is present. Balm is also used in herb pillows because of its agreeable odor. Experimentally, hot-water extracts have been shown strongly antiviral for Newcastle disease, herpes, mumps; also antibacterial, antihistaminic, antispasmodic, and anti-oxidant.
from Medicinal Herbs Online