Common name: Small-Flowered Melissa • Nepali: लोमई Lomai
Botanical name:Melissa axillarisFamily:Lamiaceae (Mint family) Synonyms: Melissa longifolia, Melissa parviflora
Small-Flowered Melissa is an erect, branched herb,
60-100 cm tall, velvet-hairy. Leaf-stalks are 0.2-2.5 cm; leaf blades
ovate, 1.2-6 x 0.9-3 cm, herbaceous, purplish along midrib, sparsely
velvet-hairy to nearly hairless, base nearly heart-shaped to
wedge-shaped, margin sawtoothed-rounded toothed, tip pointed or short
tapering to rounded. Flowers are in widely spaced whorls; bracteoles
nearly linear, fringed with hairs. Flower-stalks are about 2 mm, calyx
6-8 mm, horizontally projected, hairy outside, hairless inside, teeth
of upper lip pointed; lower lip almost as long as upper lip, teeth
lanceshaped. Flowers are white or reddish, about 1 cm, velvet-hairy,
tube slightly protruding, upper lip notched, lower lip spreading.
Anterior stamens do not protrude out. Small-Flowered Melissa is found
on hills, valleys in the Himalayas at altitudes of 600-2800 m. It is
found in the Himalayas from Garhwal eastwards to Nepal, Bhutan, China
and SE Asia. Flowering: June-November.
Medicinal uses: Small-Flowered Melissa is used
medicinally for dysentery and snake bites; also used as an essence in
hair oil. It is used as a substitute for Lemon Balm (Melissa
officinalis).
Identification credit: Ashutosh Sharma
Photographed in Kullu Distt., Himachal Pradesh.
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The flower labeled Small-Flowered Melissa is ...