Balm - Melissa officinalis

A lemon scented hairy plant, usually about 60 cm but sometimes taller. Flowers whitish or pale yellow, often becoming pinkish, 8 -15 mm long in leafy whorled interrupted spikes. The upper lip is erect, the lower three-lobed.

Shaded habitats and cultivated land. Many records may be from casuals and naturalised garden escapes.

July to September.

Perennial.

Occasional in southern Wales and England as far north as the Midlands.

Not common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 3 of the 617 tetrads.