Melissa and catnip. Melissa and mint: differences and beneficial properties. Mint and lemon balm are the same thing

In the article we discuss lemon balm and mint - the differences between plants in appearance, smell and taste. You will find out where they are added and what is better - lemon balm or mint. We will provide photos of mint and lemon balm to demonstrate the difference between the plants.

Appearance (photo) of lemon balm

Some amateur gardeners do not know the difference between lemon balm and mint and believe that lemon balm and mint are the same plant. They are indeed very similar to each other, but upon closer examination a number of differences are revealed.

These representatives of different genera of plants belong to the same family - Lamiaceae. This is why mint and lemon balm are similar to each other.

Despite this, plants differ in appearance, smell and taste. Mint rarely bears fruit; lemon balm fruits ripen annually. Melissa grows on sandy soil in the shade of gorges, ravines and forests; mint prefers open, sunny and moist areas. Let's take a closer look at the difference between lemon balm and mint.

Appearance

The most obvious difference between lemon balm and mint is the appearance of the plants.. Mint has an erect, smooth stem, 30-50 cm high. Melissa looks like a lush bush, up to 100 cm high. The stem of the plant is highly branched and covered with small hairs.

Mint leaves are smooth, pointed in shape and have a bright, rich green color. Leaf blades of lemon balm are ovoid-oval in shape with pubescence, due to which they are paler in color.

Bright purple mint flowers are collected in apical spike-shaped inflorescences. Ring-shaped inflorescences of lemon balm are located in the axils of the leaves and consist of light purple or pale blue flowers.

Smell

The clear difference between mint and lemon balm is the smell of the plants.. Mint has a specific, pronounced menthol aroma. The scent of lemon balm is much weaker and has a lemony note.

Taste

Another difference between mint and lemon balm is the taste. Mint has a fresh menthol taste, lemon balm has a bright lemon flavor.

You learned the difference between mint and lemon balm. Let's tell you where these plants are added.

Where is lemon balm added?

Fresh lemon balm leaves are added to salads, soups, desserts and used for canning vegetables. Dried herbs are used as a seasoning for pickling cabbage and for preparing meat, fish and vegetable dishes. The spice gives them a spicy aroma.

Melissa is combined with tarragon, marjoram, rosemary, oregano, and basil. The spice is added 3 minutes before the dish is ready so that it does not lose its taste.

Dried herbs are brewed as tea, added to decoctions, infusions, and compotes. To prepare drinks, lemon balm is combined with thyme, mint, anise, and jasmine.

Where do you add mint?

Appearance (photo) of mint

Fresh mint is added to salads, fermented milk soups, and meat dishes. Oil is obtained from it and is used to flavor baked goods and alcoholic beverages.

Dried mint is brewed as tea and added to spicy sauces. The spice is combined with cinnamon, ginger, and lemon. Mint is included in ready-made seasonings: herbs de Provence, dukkah, shichimi, Moroccan herbs, suneli hops.

What to remember

1. The main difference between lemon balm and mint is that they are representatives of different genera.
2. The differences between lemon balm and mint are: appearance, smell, taste, period of fruit ripening and preferences for growing conditions.
3. Melissa is added to salads, soups, desserts and used for canning vegetables.
4. Mint is added to salads, fermented milk soups, and meat dishes. Peppermint oil is used to flavor baked goods and alcoholic drinks.

Do you use fresh mint? Are you sure that this is mint and not lemon balm? These two herbs are very similar - like sisters. Let's try to find the differences in this wonderfully aromatic herb.

Mint (lat. Mntha)- a genus of plants in the Lamiaceae family. All types are strongly aromatic, most of them contain a lot of menthol.

The name of the genus comes from the name of the nymph Mintha (or Minta), the goddess of Mount Mente in Elis, beloved of the god of the underworld Hades (Hades). Hades's wife Persephone turned her into a plant - fragrant mint.

Catnip(lat. Npeta) is a genus of herbaceous plants of the Lamiaceae family. Most species are native to Europe, Asia and Africa, with some species found in North America.
The aroma is very reminiscent of mint and lemon balm.

More than 600 species of mints grow around the globe, 25 of them are common in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. There are 14 species found in our country, but only peppermint is of greatest cultural importance.

Mint has a special smell that is specific only to this plant. Its leaves contain 2.4-2.7% essential oil, its stems contain 0.3%, and its inflorescences 4-6%. The main component of this oil is menthol.

The lemon balm genus is represented by 5 species. Only one grows in the Russian Federation - lemon balm. The leaves of the plant contain from 0.02 to 0.1% essential oil, which is highly valued in perfumery. The oil contains up to 60% citral and about 5% citronellal, as well as geraniol.

Catnip is widespread in Europe and Asia and is represented by 250 species. 82 species grow in our country. Of these, the most interesting is the form of catnip. The oil it contains (up to 3 percent) has a strong lemon smell, characteristic of lemon balm, although the chemical composition of the oils and its quantity are different. It is used in perfumery, confectionery production, and soap making.

Mint is different, lemon balm and catnip even in growing areas. So, if catnip is most often found in the forest-steppe zone of the European part of the Russian Federation, in the Caucasus, Crimea, Western Siberia, Kazakhstan, and the Far East, then mint grows mainly in the more southern regions of the European part, in the Caucasus, and Central Asia; lemon balm is also a plant in the more southern zones of our country.

Each plant also has local names in accordance with its ethnobotanical characteristics. Peppermint is known by names such as cold mint, chilli mint, chilli mint, and English mint. We often find lemon balm under the name lemon balm. Among the locals, it is the queen plant, the swarmer, the bee plant, the honey plant, and the papaya grass. Catnip also has many local names: steppe mint, cat grass, catnip, forest nettle, morning grass.

The most characteristic differences between these three species are associated with their botanical and morphological characteristics.

Peppermint flowers small, bisexual, pale purple in color, collected at the top of the stem in capitate-spike-shaped inflorescences. In lemon balm they are yellowish, white, pinkish or purple, sessile, sometimes collected in groups of 3-5. 10 in false whorls in the axils of the upper leaves. And catnip has flowers on short pedicels (1-1.5 mm), a calyx 5.5-7.5 mm long, with a short five-toothed limb. The corolla is 7.5-10.0 mm long with a bilabial bend, off-white in color. Has characteristic purple or violet specks on the lower lip, rarely without them.

Catnip is a perennial herbaceous plant 40-100 cm in height with a woody, branched root. Its stem, unlike mint and lemon balm, is strong, erect, softly fluffy, and branched. The leaves are opposite, triangular-ovate with a heart-shaped base, acute, coarsely toothed, pubescent, grayish below, densely pubescent. The flowers are collected in complex, dense semi-umbrellas, tassels located at the ends of the stems and in the axils of the branches. The upper semi-umbels are few-flowered, dense, almost sessile, the lower ones are on peduncles up to 1.5-2.0 cm long, more loose. The bracts are linear-subulate, shorter than the calyx. One of characteristic features, which distinguishes catnip from mint and lemon balm, is that its two middle stamens are longer than the two lateral ones. The calyx of catnip is cylindrical, tubular or obverse-conical - in lemon balm it is bell-shaped, two-lipped or straight, and in mint it is funnel-shaped or tubular-bell-shaped. The fruit of the catnip is a nut, ellipsoidal in shape, brown, smooth, 1.3-1.5 mm long and 0.8-1.0 mm wide. Mint's fruits are blunt, rough, sometimes with hairs at the top, while lemon balm's are ovoid, strongly tapered towards the base, and smooth.

Peppermint- a universal plant. It is not only added to everyday dishes and drinks, but also to many medicinal preparations. IN folk medicine, mint decoctions are recommended to be drunk for inflammatory processes, gynecological, cardiovascular diseases, abdominal pain and heartburn. Peppermint improves digestion, helps get rid of nausea, and is used for asthma.

So when you have a petal in a glass of cocktail and the bartender claims that it’s a mint cocktail, think about whether it’s really mint...

Everyone's favorite lemon balm is also known among gardeners as lemon balm. The culture received this name due to the light citrus aroma that comes from touching its delicate leaves. However, it is worth considering that there are many plants similar to lemon balm. Each of these varieties has a number of distinctive features.

Fresh leaves of the aromatic herb contain a huge amount of beneficial substances and essential oils. However, the spice loses its medicinal properties during drying, as well as during long-term storage. Within 2-3 months the esters simply disappear.

Melissa and her competitors

The first close “relative” of lemon balm is the catnip. The culture has the same lemon aroma, but with a lighter tint. These 2 varieties of mint can be distinguished by several characteristics:

• lemon balm flowers are white, but they are bluish;
• lemon balm inflorescences are located in the axils of the leaves in the form of rings, and not panicles on the edge of the shoot, as in the cat variety;
• lemon balm leaves are more round in shape with pronounced veins, while catnip leaves are ovoid with a serrated edge.

Catnip grows everywhere. The culture helps with bronchitis, cough, anemia, and it also serves as an excellent anthelmintic.

Another “competitor” of lemon balm is the Moldavian snakehead. Unlike all other crops, this Turkish variety is an annual. It grows in Siberia, as well as in the southern regions of Russia. Due to the high concentration of essential oils, it produces a more intense lemon aroma than lemon balm. At the same time, the leaves retain such an intense smell for 3-4 years. But for this, the raw materials are collected as late as possible. The Moldavian snakehead serves as an excellent honey plant. So from 1 hectare bees can collect up to 500 kg of honey.

To differentiate between these 3 varieties of mint, it is important to read the packaging carefully. Reliable manufacturers must indicate the Latin names of plants. Catnip is “Nepeta cataria”, snakehead is “Dracocéphalum moldavica”, and lemon balm is “Melissa officinalis”.

Conditions for growing aromatic lemon balm

A prerequisite for growing lemon mint is fertile soil. Therefore, gardeners always apply fertilizers to their plots and regularly fertilize the plantings. Then the herbaceous crop will grow in one place for about 3-4 years. However, harsh winters often weaken her immunity. Among other things, a well-lit place is selected for lemon balm. During dry seasons, the garden bed must be watered.

The culture is propagated in 3 ways:

• seeds;
• cuttings;
• dividing the bush.

As soon as the seed pods turn brown and begin to crack, they are collected. Before sowing, planting material is not soaked. Wide grooves of 5-7 cm are made in the flower bed. The planting depth is 2-3 times the diameter of the seeds. When seedlings appear, the bed is weeded, removing weeds. These methods of caring for lemon balm contribute to an excellent harvest.

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Melissa is best grown in well-lit, elevated areas.

Catnip has a peculiar smell and bitter taste.

In the huge list of medicinal plants, lemon balm (lemon balm) and catnip occupy a special place: they are easy to grow, and they bring enormous benefits.
Melissa is a perennial herbaceous plant 50-120 cm high, its stems are branched, pubescent, and the lower shoots are creeping. Melissa is pleasant lemon aroma. Melissa's inflorescences are sessile, the flowers are small, white, yellowish-white, light purple or light pink. The inflorescences are located in the axils of the upper leaves; there are no flowers at the ends of the branches.
Melissa is rich in vitamin C, carotene, tannins and essential oil with a strong lemon scent. It has a diaphoretic and laxative effect, enhances the activity of the digestive organs, improves appetite, eliminates cramps, reduces and relieves pain, calms the nervous system, has a beneficial effect on the activity of the heart, and lowers blood pressure.
Catnip (catmint, fragrant horehound) is a perennial herbaceous plant with a height of 40 to 100 cm or more. Its stems are erect, strong (unlike lemon balm), bare or slightly pubescent. The flowers are small, white or
light blue, collected in elongated inflorescences at the ends of the stems. Catnip has a unique smell (reminiscent of lemon, rose and geranium) and a pleasant bitter taste that attracts cats (hence the name).
The fruits of catnip and lemon balm are small, brown or black. There are two white dots on the fruits of catnip, by which you can distinguish the fruits of this plant from lemon balm (it does not have dots). Catnip has antipyretic, anti-cold, diaphoretic, sedative and hemostatic effects. It increases appetite, helps with headaches, shortness of breath, cough, exhaustion, anemia, neurasthenia, restless sleep, biliary and gastrointestinal colic.

On a note

The fruits of catnip and lemon balm are small, brown or black. There are two white dots on the fruits of catnip, by which you can distinguish the fruits of this plant from lemon balm (it does not have dots). Catnip has antipyretic, anti-cold, diaphoretic, sedative and hemostatic effects. It increases appetite, helps with headaches, shortness of breath, cough, exhaustion, anemia, neurasthenia, restless sleep, biliary and gastrointestinal colic.

Melissa and catnip grow well in our conditions and are not difficult to grow. Their agricultural technology is the same. These crops are propagated by seeds and by dividing bushes. You can sow the seeds directly into the soil in late autumn or early spring in grooves 0.5-1 cm deep. After sowing, the seeds are sprinkled with peat or sand: lightly in the spring, 0.5-1 cm in the fall. But it’s even better to sow them at the end March - early April for seedlings - in a greenhouse, hotbed or at home.
Melissa and catnip grow better on humus-rich loamy or sandy loam soils; they can grow on non-acidic peat bogs, but not on heavy clays and acidic soils. The soil should be moderately moist, as they cannot withstand waterlogging. These plants are light-loving; they need to be grown in illuminated, elevated areas. However, it should be noted that catnip is more shade-tolerant. They grow well in one place for 5-6 years, but they can last longer.
After sowing or planting seedlings, it is advisable to cover the beds with covering material to retain moisture in the soil. In the future, if necessary, watering, weeding, loosening, and fertilizing are carried out. If the soil is fertile, then fertilizers may not be applied. On insufficiently fertile soil for digging, you need to add 1 square meter. m 2-4 kg of humus and 60-80 g of ash or 30-40 g of complex mineral fertilizer (nitroammophosphate and others). Fertilizing can be done with slurry (1 liter of slurry per 10 liters of water) or a solution of complex fertilizer (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water).
For medicinal purposes, in the budding phase, the tops of the stems (up to 20-30 cm long) are cut off and dried in the shade at a temperature of 25-30°C. It is better to store dried plants in tightly closed glass jars for no more than a year so that they do not lose their beneficial substances and aroma. During the season, you can cut 2-3 shoots and leaves.
Infusions, decoctions, tinctures, herbal teas are prepared from lemon balm and catnip, and they are also used for aromatic medicinal baths, compresses, and lotions.
Infusion. A tablespoon of chopped lemon balm or catnip herb is poured with a glass of boiling water and left for 30-60 minutes. Take 0.5 cups 3-4 times a day before meals.
Herbal tea. 2-3 teaspoons of lemon balm or catnip, or better yet a mixture of these herbs, pour a glass of boiling water. Leave for 5 minutes and drink hot. You can add a little of any tea. This tea is especially good made from fresh leaves. After working in the country, it helps to relax, relieve fatigue, and works great as a sleeping pill.
Infusion of lemon balm with marjoram. A tablespoon of the crushed mixture of these herbs is poured into a glass of boiling water and left for 1-2 hours. Take 1/3-1/2 cup 3 times a day to improve memory.