Phytochemical Constituents, Biological Activities, and Health-Promoting Effects of the Melissa officinalis

Table 1

Traditional uses of Melissa officinalis in different Countries.

Country/region	Organ/part of plant	Mode of application	Traditional uses	References
Argentina/San Martin de los Andes	—	—	Sedative	[40]
Austria	Leaves	Internal as tea, external essential oil	Treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, nervous system, liver and bile; food	[41]
Bolivia/Qampaya	Leaves	Infusion	Psychological problems, heart problems	[32]
Bosnia and Herzegovina/Javor Mountain	Aerial parts	Infusion	Insomnia, digestive disorders; spasms, respiratory infections	[42]
Brazil/Santa Catarina	Leaves	—	Colic pain in babies, gastrointestinal, to reduce blood pressure, influenza	[43]
Brazil	Leaves	Decoction	Calmative, migraine, sedative	[44]
Bulgaria	Leaves	Decoction	Sedative, tranquillizer	[45]
	Herb	Decoction	Hypertonia
	Herb	Decoction	Improves appetite
Catalonia/L’Alt Emporda and Les Guilleries	Leaves	Infusion	Sedative	[46]
Denmark	Aerial parts	—	Against sleeplessness caused by heartbreak; against melancholy and sadness	[33, 47]
Ecuador/Loja and Zamora-Chinchipe	Stems, leaves	Infusion	Relaxant, insomnia	[48]
Ecuador/Loja	Whole plants, branches	Crushed	Nerves	[49]
Greece/Macedonia	Leaves of Melissa officinalis subsp. altissima (Sm.) Arcang.	Decoction or infusion	As sedative; used as a decoction in combination with Crataegus monogyna Jacq. for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases	[50]
Iraq	Leaves	Herbal tea	Diuretic, analgesic; for headache, toothache, galactogen	[51]
Iraq/Hawraman	Leaves	—	Used as a wrap in dolma preparation	[52]
Iran/Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (Shahrekord)	Aerial parts	—	Anxiety, depression	[35]
Iran/North Khorasan	Flowers, leaves	Infusion	To strengthen the memory, nerve tonic, hypnotic, antistress, sedative, anticonvulsive	[53]
Iran/Fars (Arjan-Parishan)	Leaves, seeds	Decoction	Sedative	[54]
Iran/Sistan, Baluchistan	Leaves	Decoction	Diuretic, sedative	[55]
Iran/Kermanshah	Aerial parts	Decoction	Antihistamine and antipruritus, diabetes control	[56]
Italy/Campania (Benevento Sannio)	Leaves, flowers	—	Antispasmodic, antihysteric, and tonic	[57]
Italy/Umbria	Leaves, shoots	—	Alcoholic beverages; boiled; fried in fat, without or with beaten eggs, risotto	[39]
Italy/marches	Leaves	Compress of crushed fresh leaves	To heal insect bite	[58]
Italy/Valvestino	Leaves	Poultice	Wound healing	[59]
Italy/Abruzzo, Lazio, Molise National Park	Aerial parts, leaves	Decoction	The decoction is used to favour digestion, lower blood pressure and for calming (also in case of emotional illness)	[60]
		—	An aromatic herb used as a beef condiment
Italy/Sardinia	Leaves	Tea	Helps relieve premenstrual symptoms	[61]
	Herb	—	Nervous agitation, sleeping problems, functional gastrointestinal complaints, menstrual cramps, and urinary spasms
Italy/Salento	Leaves	—	Seasoning in many dishes	[62]
Jordan	Aerial parts	Infusion	Sedative, carminative, antispasmodic, and digestive	[63]
Jordan	Aerial parts	—	Abdominal pain, gynaecological disorders, arthritis	[64]
Kosovo/Pejë and Deçan	Areal parts	Infusion	For treating abdominal pains during pregnancy	[65]
		Decoction	Neuro-relaxant
	Leaves	—	Strengthen the heart, migraine, stomach disorders and memory	[66]
Lebanon/Jabal Moussa Bioreserve	—	—	Harvested as a spice, herbal tea, condiment, medicinal plant and perfumes	[38]
Macedonia	Aerial parts (fresh)	Decoction	Nervous system, focus, concentration, and relaxation, used as a spice	[67]
Morocco/Ksar Lakbir	Aerial parts	Infusion	As spasmolytic, depurative and cholagogue	[68]
Morocco/	Whole plants	—	Anti-diarrhea, astringent, febrifuge	[69]
Peru/Ancash	Leaves	Infusion	Sedative and hypotensive	[31]
Portugal/Trás-os-Montes	Aerial parts, stems, flowers, fresh or dried.	Infusion	Relaxation (nervousness, insomnia, spasms and nervous indigestion); intestinal gases and pain; digestion and bile stimulation; fever, headache and influenza; stomach ache and gastritis; for the heart; memory stimulation.	[70]
Republic of Macedonia/Sharr Mountain	Leaves	Tea, essential oil	Heart problems, headaches	[71]
Russia	Herb	Infusion	To stimulate the appetite and gastrointestinal tract; for nausea, vomiting, painful menstruation, cardiac neurosis	[72]
Serbia/Kopaonik Mountain	Aerial parts	Tea	Sedative, relaxing, digestive properties; internally taken for nervous anxiety, depression, tension headaches and indigestion (tea taken after meal)	[73]
Spain/Alava (Valdegovía, Valle de Arana, Izki)	Aerial parts	Infusion	Bronchitis, stomach pain	[74]
		Herbal tea: aerial parts, infusion, alone or with Hypericum perforatum	Relaxant, depression
		Decoction	Stomach diseases, nephritis, cardiovascular diseases, forgetfulness, diabetes, cold, flu, bronchitis, enteritis
Turkey/K. Maras	Leaves	—	Antiseptic, cold, diabetes, antispasmodic	[75]
Turkey/Bayramic	Leaves	Infusion	Heart diseases	[76]
Turkey/Antakya	Aerial parts; Melissa officinalis L. subsp. inodora Bornm.	Decoction	Stomach pains, gastritis, ulcer, sedative	[77]
Turkey/Kumluca (Antalya)	Aerial parts of Melissa officinalis L. subsp. officinalis	Infusion	Relaxing, stomach disorders, intestinal disorders, cardiovascular disease, digestive, diarrhea, migraine, analgesic	[78]
Turkey/Anatolia	Leaves of Melissa officinalis subsp. officinalis	Decoction as tea and oils are applied to the pain region	Sedative	[79]
Turkey/Uzunköprü	Aerial parts	Infusion	Diabetes, cold, insomnia	[80]
Turkey/Samsun (Yeşilırmak Delta)	Leaves of Melissa officinalis subsp. officinalis	—	Soothes insect bite, headache, indigestion, nausea, sedative	[81]
Turkey/Osmaniye (Bahçe and Hasanbeyli)	Aerial parts of Melissa officinalis L. subsp. inodora Bornm	Infusion	Sedative, gastric and carminative	[82]
Turkey/Kahramanmaras (Andirin)	Aerial parts of Melissa officinalis L. subsp. inodora Bornm	Infusion, decoction	Pain in head, cardiac, stomach and intestinal disease	[83]
Uzbekistan/Tashkent (Chatkal Biosphere Reserve)	Whole plants	—	Epilepsy, mental illness, diuretic, digestive, fevers and colds, indigestion associated with nervous tension, hyperthyroidism, depression, mild insomnia, epilepsy, headaches, toothaches, flatulence, colic, nausea, nervousness, anaemia, vertigo, syncope, malaise, asthma, bronchitis, amenorrhea, cardiac failure, arrhythmias, depression, psychosis, hysteria, ulcers, wounds, against Alzheimer disease, sedative, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, digestive, antiviral, antilipidaemic, anxiolytic	[84]