BALM

25th February 2024

Photo Credit: seven75 (Getty Images), CANVA

QUOTATION

Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more”!

Macbeth doth murder sleep” - the innocent sleep,

Sleep that knits up the raveled sleave of care,

The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,

Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,

Chief nourisher in life’s feast.

MACBETH: Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2

BALM (Melissa officinalis)

Balm here is used as a metaphor for healing and Balm was commonly grown in gardens for a wide range of physical and mental ailments. The name Balm (Melissa officinalis) is used interchangeably with another medicinal plant species, the Arabian resinous shrub (Commiphora gileadensis) (Thomas & Faircloth, 2016). It is not often clear which species in particular is intended, but both Gerard (1597) and Culpepper (1653) talk about the use of Balm as an aid for sleep and troubled minds.

Gerard (1597) tells us that “Bawme is much sowen and set in Gardens, and oftentimes it groweth of itself in Woods and mountaines, and other wilde places” and “Bawme drunk in wine is good against the bitings of venemous beasts, comforts the heart, and driveth away all melancholy and sadness.”

Balm (Melissa officinalis) is native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia but has been cultivated in many countries since antiquity. It is a member of the Mint Family (Lamiaceae).

More Information

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Gerard, J. 1597 The Herballe, or Generall Historie of Plantes. (1636 edition accessed via Archive.org)

Kew Plants of the World Online: Melissa officinalis

Thomas, V. & Faircloth, N. 2016 Shakespeare’s Plants and Gardens, A dictionary. Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare