1. Lemon balm: The tea has become very popular with family and friends. especially since it is said to be calming and according to a recent report good for the memory [Kensington, London, March 2007].

2. A brew of lemon balm will keep insects away. My mother used it as a dog-deterrent by bathing her bitch in it whilst it was in season [Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, August 2004].

3. In the villages around here lemon balm is taken as an infusion as a sedative. especially useful to reduce itching in the later stages of chickenpox, in children. I use it regularly as a ‘green tea’ in the middle of a sleepless night. It soon induces drowsiness [Oker, Derbyshire, April 1997].

4. Grown in gardens [in the Forest of Dean], dried and made into tea for stomach problems/colic [Cinderford, Gloucestershire, November 1993].

Images:  main, cultivated, Rochester, Kent, May 2017; inset, cultivated, Royal College of Physicians garden, Regent’s Park, London Borough of Camden, August 2015.