Melissa officinalis Steam distilled from the leaves in Slovenia, 3% in Simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil
Aroma: A middle note with a medium aroma, melissa Leaf Essential Oil has a warm, fresh, herbaceous and radiant scent reminiscent of lemons.
Description: Melissa Leaf, commonly known as lemon balm, comes from a sweet smelling, bushy herb that grows up to nearly three feet high with serrated leaves and tiny white or pink flowers.
Colour: Clear colourless to yellow liquid.
Common Uses: Melissa Leaf Essential Oil is well known for its gentle, lemony scent, fragrant tea, and thus its popularity in kitchen gardens. Anxiety, depression, hypertension, insomnia, migraine, menstrual cramping, indigestion, nausea, asthma, bronchitis, coughing, insect repellent, eczema, fragrancing. [Julia Lawless, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1995), 173.]
Consistency: Thin
Note: Middle
Strength of Aroma: Medium
Constituents: Citral (Neral) 6 - 26%, Citral (Geranial) 11 - 36%, Beta-Caryophyllene: 7 - 25%
Major Constituents: Geranial, Neral, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, B-Caryophyllene, Citronellal, Geranyl acetate, Aesculetine [E. Joy Bowles, The Chemistry of Aromatherapeutic Oils (NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 20
Melissa Essential Oil 3%: (+)-citronellal, 1-octen-3-ol, 10-α-cadinol, 3-octanol, 3-octanone, caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, cis-ocimene, citral-A, citral-B, citronellal, copaene, δ-cadinene, eugenyl acetate, γ-cadinene, geranial, geraniol, geranyl acetate, germacrene-D, iso-geranial, linalool, luteolin-7-glucoside, methyl heptenone, neral, nerol, octyl benzoate, rhamnazin, rosmaric acid, rosmarinic acid, stachyose, succinic acid , thymol.
Jojoba Golden Oil 97%: Lauric, myristic, palmitic, palmitoleic, margaric, margroleic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, arachidic, eicosanic, behenic, lignoceric and erucic
fatty acids.
Blends well with: Bergamot, Cedarwood, Geranium, Jasmine, Lavender, Lemon, Marjoram, Neroli, Rose, and Ylang-ylang.
History: Also known as Lemon Balm and Bee Balm, and Cure-All, Melissa comes from the Greek for ‘Honey Bee’. It was believed to impart good cheer, and has long been used to maintain health and beauty. Very small amounts in personal-care products will fragrance them beautifully, and a few drops will add a soothing element to massage oils.
Safety Information: Tisserand and Young precaution that Melissa Essential Oil can pose a drug interaction hazard and that there is a risk of teratogenicity. They precaution against topical use in children and infants under age 2 and for those with hypersensitive/diseased/damaged skin. They recommend a dermal maximum of 0.9%. Reading Tisserand and Young's full profile is recommended. [Robert Tisserand and Rodney Young, Essential Oil Safety (Second Edition. United Kingdom: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2014), 350-351.]
Cautions: Melissa Leaf Essential Oil has possible sensitizing and dermal irritating characteristics. Nonetheless, it is viewed by experts as non-toxic. Avoid use during pregnancy.
Photo by Kenraiz - Krzysztof Ziarnek (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Kenraiz - Krzysztof Ziarnek (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons