Family: mints (Lamiaceae)
Flowering time: May–June
Height: 20–60 cm
Habitat: warm deciduous and mixed forests, forest edges, clearings and shrubby slopes
The bristly-haired, usually unbranched stem of the common balm (Melittis melissophyllum) is leafy with opposite-arranged leaves. Short-petioled, ovate-lanceolate leaves with a coarse serrated margin are 3 to 9 cm long. Up to three large bilabiate flowers develop in the leaf axils of the upper stem leaves. White to pinkish flowers are 3 to 4.5 cm long and pleasantly honey-scented. Its inflorescences are often one-sided, meaning that all the flowers face in the same direction.
It grows best on warm sites on calcareous substrates. The common balm is widespread throughout Slovenia.
