BASTARD BALM
Melittis melissophyllum
Mint / Dead-Nettle Family [Lamiaceae] 
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Mint / Dead-Nettle Family [Lamiaceae]
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status
flower
flower
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petals
stem
smell
sweettoxicity
rarity
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| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| It is a perennial herb which grows erect to 70cm high. Flowers in short spikes, the topmost the last to open, the bottom the first to fruit. |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The flowers have long rear tubes emerging fron the sepal cup. |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The corolla can be any colour between white, pink, mauve and blue. |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| Like a snowman smartly dressed and ready for the ball. Oh look, we can see something green deep down your throat. |
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| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| This plant grows to 70cm high and has a fairly unique jizz: the leaves at the top are almost bolt-upright and above any flowers, which are in side-by-side pairs and large! |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The flowers at the top are yet to open, and have a pale-green 4--lobed calyx which has rounded (but with a tip at the end) lobes. The folded up flower (which looks like a white boxing glove) fits loosely within the sepal cup. The leaves near the top are bullate (have raised 'blisters' between the veins) whereas those lower down are flatter. |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| Opened flowers are large, with the corolla being between 25 to 40mm across. |
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| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The flowers are zygomorphic, with 5 petals, a hood at the top above the sexual organs, two side-wings, and a longer lower petal which may either have 2 rounded lobes, or may be fused as this floret. |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The very short hairs on the petals look as though they have glandular tips (tiny bobbles at the end). The upper lip of the flower can be flat or slightly hooded. |
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| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The 4 stamens with cream-coloured anthers are beneath the upper petal as well as an stigma and style somewhere. The corolla can be either white, or shaded pink to mauve, pink to purple or even blue on some plants. The upper petal has very short hairs, there may be fewer short hairs on the other petals(?). |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The sepal cup is pale green, has two lips, the upper one may have 2 or 3 short lobes. and is a very slack fit to the long tubular part of the flower before the petals. A side-view of the 4 anthers and stigma. |
_AlisonTickner_1p98.jpeg)
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The sepal cup is pale green, has two lips, the upper one may have 2 or 3 short lobes. The flowers are in side-by-side pairs. The stem, if you could see it beyond the long hairs that surround it, is square. |
_AlisonTickner_1p72.jpeg)
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
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| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The leaves are bullate (with bulges on the upper suface - they will be dimples underneath). Leaves hairy. |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| The lower leaves are variously shaped cordate or ovate to rounded at the base. |
| 17th May 2020, a woodland edge, South Devon. | Photo: © Alison Tickner |
| It is very hairy, at least near the bottom. |
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Not to be semantically confused with : Some similarities to : the even rarer [RRR] Wood Calamint (Clinopodium menthifolium). Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : See captions It is a fairly rare [RR] which grows natively on the edge of woods, hedge banks or on shady rocks in South and Central England and in Wales - elsewhere it is a scattered rare garden escapee.
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 Melittis
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melissophyllum
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⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Lamiaceae
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 Melittis (Bastard Balm) |
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Mint / Dead-Nettle Family [Lamiaceae]
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BSBI maps