citrus packing machine

The primary ingredient in Carmelite water was lemon balm, but it

also contained lemon peel, nutmeg and angelica root (42). A version known as Klostergau Melissengeist

has been sold in Germany in recent times (87).

In Europe, lemon balm was used as a strewing herb (26, 73, 80), and was tossed on floors to freshen

rooms. It was strewn amongst church pews up to the nineteenth century (41). Oil from the herb was also

used historically to polish furniture (20).

In the Victorian language of flowers, lemon balm could be added to a tussie mussie or floral bouquet  citrus packing machine to

signify “social intercourse,” ”pleasant company of friends,” “memories,” “a cure,” and “don’t misuse

me” (39).

Lemon balm arrived in North America with the early colonists, who used it to make potpourri and tea

(26), to attract honeybees for honey production, and as a substitute for lemons in jams and jellies (20).

Lemon balm was also one of the plants grown at Thomas Jefferson’s garden and farm (50).  citrus packing machine

Lemon balm has been associated with the feminine, the moon and water (23, 64), and was considered a

sacred herb in the temple of the Ancient Roman goddess Diana (92). According to magical folklore, the

herb has powers of healing, success and love, and can be made into healing incense and sachets or

carried to help the bearer find love (23).

Culpeper associated lemon balm with the planet Jupiter and the astrological constellation Cancer (22).

Some herbalists believe lemon balm is also beneficial for the astrological signs Sagittarius (82) and

Aquarius (2). Literature

Deciphering exactly which references in classic and ancient texts refer to lemon balm can be difficult.

The word balm and its variations (baume, bawme, balme, bawme, and baulm) were used to describe citrus packing machine

aromatic and medicinal resins from various trees (bearing the common name balsam), anointing and

embalming oils and preparations, healing ointments, and pleasant fragrances (91). Although balm is

mentioned in the Bible, the plant in question is not lemon balm, but is believed to be Commiphora

opobalsamum (75, 105), Commiphora gileadensis (110) or Balanites aegyptiaca (105). According to the

Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest usage of “bawme” in reference to lemon balm was in citrus packing machine

Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum, lexicon Anglo-Latin circa 1440: “Bawme, herbe…

melissa” (91).

Nevertheless, scholars believe that the “baum” mentioned in

the Roman poet Virgil's Georgics, written around 30 B.C.E, is

actually lemon balm (103): “Bruis'd baum, and vulgar cerinth

spread around,/ And ring the tinkling brass, and sacred

cymbals sound:/ They'll settle on the medicated seats,/ and

hide them in the chambers' last retreats.”  citrus packing machine

- Volume 1, Book IV (103)

It is also widely accepted that lemon balm is the “balm” of

Homer's Odyssey (91):

...A vine did all the hollow cave embrace,

Still green, yet still ripe bunches gave it grace.

Four fountains, one against another, pour'd

Their silver streams; and meadows all enflower'd

With sweet balm-gentle, and blue violets hid,

That deck'd the soft breasts of each fragrant mead.  citrus packing machine

- The Odyssey, Book V (47)

Many believe that Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor

also refers to lemon balm in descriptions of “balm” as a

strewing herb (16 in 104) or furniture polish (20, 85, 87):

Anne Page (as the Fairy Queen) proclaims:

About, about!

Search Windsor castle, elves, within and out:

Strew good luck, ouphs, on every sacred room,

That it may stand till the perpetual doom,

In state as wholesome as in state ’tis fit,  citrus packing machine

Worthy the owner, and the owner it.

The several chairs of order look you scour

With juice of balm and every precious flower:

Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest,

With loyal blazon, ever more be blest!

- (Merry Wives of Windsor, Act V, Scene V (21) Lemon balm was also mentioned briefly in Henry David Thoreau's Journals: "In the garden of the

Wellfleet Oysterman was yellow dock, lemon balm, hyssop, gill-go-over-the-ground, mouse-ear,

chickweed, etc." (3)

Art

Although lemon balm does not appear in any well-known art works, it is depicted in various botanical

illustrations and herbals, including Gerard's Herbal, Elizabeth Blackwell's A Curious Herbal, and Basil citrus packing machine

Besler's Hortus Eystettensis (1613). In addition, the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation lists two

lemon balm watercolors in their online catalogue: “Melissa officinalis (lemon balm)” by Marie Felicity

Angel and “Basil (Ocimum basilicum), Balm (Melissa): Balm, Variegated Basil, Lettuce-leaved Basil,

Basil with Oregano-shaped leaves” by Marilena Pistoia (48) . Lemon balm is probably one of the easiest herbs to grow and is ideal for beginners. This perennial

grows and spreads so readily, in fact, that some gardeners consider it a weed. According to Mark

Langan, a common misconception about lemon balm is that it spreads like mint, but mint spreads by

underground runners while lemon balm spreads via seed (62). For Madalene Hill, even though citrus packing machine

reseeding in the garden can be a problem, lemon balm is an essential herb garden plant that “no herb

grower should be without” (45).