4. There is a kind of Balm called Herba iudaica, which Lobel calls Tetrahit, that hath many weak and tender square hairy branches, some leaning backward, and others turning inward, dividing themselves into sundry other small arms or twigs, which are beset with long rough leaves dented about, and smaller than the leaves of Sage. And growing in another soil or climate, you shall see the leaves like the oaken leaf; in other places like Marrubium creticum, very hoary, which caused Dioscorides to describe it with so many shapes, and also the flowers, which are sometimes blue and purple, and oftentimes white: the root is small and crooked, with some hairy strings fastened thereto. All the whole plant draweth to the savour of Balm, called Melissa.

            5. There be also two other plants comprehended under the kinds of Balm, the one very like unto the other, although not known to many herbarists, and have been of some called by the title of Cardiaca: the first kind Pena calleth Cardiaca melica or molucca syriaca, so called for that it was first brought out of Syria: it groweth three cubits high, and yieldeth many shoots from a woody root, full of many whitish strings; the stalks be round, somewhat thick, and of a reddish colour, which are hollow within, with certain obscure prints or small furrows along the stalks, with equal spaces half kneed or knotted, and at every such knee or joint stand two leaves one against another, tufted like Melissa, but more rough and deeply indented, yet not so deeply as our common Cardiaca, called Motherwort, nor so sharp pointed: about the knees there come forth small little prickles, with six or eight small open wide bells, having many corners thin like parchment, and of the same colour, somewhat stiff and long; and at the top of the edge of the bell it is cornered and pointed with sharp prickles; and out of the middle of this prickly bell riseth a flower somewhat purple tending to whiteness, not unlike our Lamium or Cardiaca, which bringeth forth a cornered seed, the bottom flat, and smaller toward the top like a steeple: the savour of the plant draweth toward the scent of Lamium.

Fig. 1029. Thorny Molucca Balm (6)

            6. The other kind of Melica, otherwise called Molucca asperior (whereof Pena writeth) dffereth from the last before mentioned, in that the cups or bells wherein the flowers grow are more prickly than the first, and much sharper, longer, and more in number; the stalk of this is four-square, lightly hollowed or furrowed; the seed three-cornered, sharp upward like a wedge; the tunnels of the flowers brownish, and not so white as the first.

The Place.

            Balm is much sown and set in gardens, and oftentimes it groweth of itself in woods and mountains, and other wild places: it is profitably planted in gardens, as Pliny writeth lib. 21, cap. 12, about places where bees are kept, because they are delighted with this herb above others, whereupon it hath been called Apiastrum: for, saith he, when they are strayed away, they do find their way home again by it, as Virgil writeth in his Georgics:

Huc tu iussos asperge liquors,
Trita Meliphylla, & Cerinthe nobile gramen.
Use here such help as husbandry doth usually prescribe,
Balm bruised in a mortar, and base Honey-Wort beside.
[Virgil, Georgics, Bk. IV. l. 62-3]

            All these I have in my garden from year to year.

The Time.

            Balm flowereth in June, July, and August: it withereth in the winter; but the root remaineth, which in the beginning of the spring bringeth forth fresh leaves and stalks.

            The other sorts do likewise flourish in June, July, and August; but they do perish when they have perfected their seed.

The Names.

            Balm is called by Pliny, Melitis: in Latin, Melissa, Apiastrum, and Citraga: of some, Melissophyllon, and Meliphyllon: in Dutch, Consille de greyn: in French, Poucyrade, ou Melisse: in Italian, Cedronella, and Arantiata: in Spanish, Torongil: in English, Bawme, or Balm.

The Temperature.

            Balm is of temperature hot and dry in the second degree, as Avicenna saith: Galen saith it is like Horehound in faculty.

The Virtues.

            A. Balm drunk in wine is good against the bitings of venomous beasts, comforts the heart, and driveth away all melancholy and sadness.

            B. Common Balm is good for women which have the strangling of the mother, either being eaten or smelled unto.

            C. The juice thereof glueth together green wounds, being put into oil, unguent, or balm, for that purpose, and maketh it of greater efficacy.

            D. The herb stamped, and infused in Aqua Vitæ, may be used unto the purposes aforesaid (I mean the liquor and not the herb) and is a most cordial liquor against all the diseases before spoken of.

            E. The hives of bees being rubbed with the leaves of Balm, causeth the bees to keep together and causeth others to come unto them.

            F. The later age, together with the Arabians and Mauritanians, affirm Balm to be singular good for the heart, and to be a remedy against the infirmities thereof; for Avicenna in his book written of the infirmities of the heart, teacheth that Balm makes the heart merry and joyful, and strengtheneth the vital spirits.

            G. Serapio affirmeth it to be comfortable for a moist and cold stomach, to stir up concoction, to open the stopping of the brain and to drive away sorrow and care of the mind.

            H. Dioscorides writeth, That the leaves drunk with wine, or applied outwardly, are good against the stingings of venomous beasts, and the bitings of mad dogs: also it helpeth the tooth-ache, the mouth being washed with the decoction, and is likewise good for those that canot take breath unless they hold their necks upright.

            I. The leaves being mixed with salt (saith the same author) helpeth the King's evil, or any other hard swellings and kernels, and mitigateth the pain of the gout.

            K. Smith's Balm or Carpenter's Balm is most singular to heal up green wounds that are cut with iron. It cureth the rupture in short time; it stayeth the whites. Dioscorides and Pliny have attributed virtues unto this kind of Balm, which they call Ironwort. The leaves (say they) being applied, close up wounds without any peril of inflammation. Pliny saith that it is of so great virtue, that though it be but tied to his sword that hath given the wound, it stancheth the blood.