Badranjboya: Lemon Balm or Indian Catmint? The Unani Mood Herb
Badranjboya is a Unani “mufarreh” herb, a mint-family leaf given to lift the mood and steady the heart, and the name hides two different plants. In Ibn Sina’s Persia it meant lemon balm (Melissa officinalis). In a Lahore or Delhi pansari’s bag today it is almost always Indian catmint (Nepeta hindostana), a cousin with far less study behind it. Which one you hold changes what you can fairly expect.
Quick facts
- English: lemon balm (the classical plant); Indian catmint or billilotan (the Indo-Pak trade plant)
- Urdu, Hindi, Persian: badranjboya, badranj boya, badranjboye, billi lotan, bilailotan
- Scientific names: Melissa officinalis L. (classical, Iranian) and Nepeta hindostana (Roth) Haines, also written Melissa parviflora (Indo-Pak market). Both are Lamiaceae, the mint family.
- Part used: dried leaves and flowering tops
- Appears in: khamiras, arq, mufarreh compounds, herbal teas
- Safety flag: LOW for most adults. Watch sedative stacking, thyroid medicine, pregnancy.
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What does badranjboya mean, and why two plants?
The word is Persian. “Boya” means fragrance; the first half refers to the citron (utruj or turanj), so the name literally says “the herb that smells of citron”. That is lemon balm exactly. Crush a Melissa leaf and you get a sharp, clean lemon scent, because its oil is rich in citral and citronellal, the same molecules that make lemongrass smell of lemon.
Lemon balm is a Mediterranean and West Asian plant, and when Unani medicine put down roots in India the imported leaf was scarce, so a local mint-family herb with similar leaves took over the name. A 2021 paper in the International Journal of Unani and Integrative Medicine from Aligarh Muslim University lays out the muddle: some Unani authors say badranjboya is Melissa officinalis, others say Nepeta hindostana, and the drug sold across India and Pakistan is Nepeta. The paper notes that Ibn Sina described badranjboya as mufarreh-ul-quloob, a gladdener of the heart.
Nepeta hindostana is a real plant with a real tradition. It is not lemon balm. Its essential oil is dominated by heavy sesquiterpenes such as caryophyllene and sesquiphellandrene rather than by citral, so it does not smell of lemon, and even its own folk name, billi lotan (“cat roller”), points at the catmint genus, though Unani authors have noted that this Indian species does not excite cats the way true catnip does.
Iran has its own version of the problem. A 2022 DNA barcoding study in BMC Plant Biology bought 22 “badranjboye” samples from herbal shops in eight provinces, and only seven were genuine; the rest came from six unrelated genera, including Dracocephalum, Hymenocrater and even Trigonella, fenugreek’s genus.
The two-second check before you pay
You do not need a lab for this one. The verified organoleptic difference is the smell.
- Take one dried leaf, about the size of your thumbnail, and rub it between finger and thumb for 3 to 5 seconds to warm the oil.
- Smell it from about 5 cm away.
- Sharp lemon, like lemon peel or lemongrass: you have lemon balm, Melissa officinalis.
- Minty, musky, slightly camphor-like, with no lemon in it at all: you have Nepeta hindostana, the Indo-Pak badranjboya.
- No smell: the leaf is old or badly stored. Essential oils fade; a lemon-balm leaf that has lost its lemon has lost most of what made it worth buying.
Neither result means “fake” in the fraud sense; Nepeta hindostana is the accepted badranjboya of Indian Unani practice. But if you bought it because you read about lemon balm’s sleep and anxiety trials, the leaf without lemon is not the leaf that was tested.
Where it comes from and how it is sold
Lemon balm is a garden perennial grown commercially in Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Europe, and it dries to a greyish-green leaf that keeps its lemon scent for months in a sealed jar away from light. Nepeta hindostana grows across the plains of north India and Pakistan, flowering bluish purple, and pansaris sell it as whole dried leaf and stem in loose brown lots at a fraction of lemon balm’s price, which is one more reason it holds the name. Store either leaf airtight, out of sunlight, and use within a year. Sniff before buying. Buy whole leaf, never powder.
What tradition says: the mufarreh idea
Unani medicine groups a set of drugs as mufarrehat, exhilarants that “gladden the heart” (quloob). Badranjboya sits in that group beside gaozaban, abresham (silk cocoon) and rose. The books describe it as a tonic for the vital organs, a sedative, a deobstruent for the brain, and a remedy for khafqan (palpitations), waswas (anxious intrusive thoughts), melancholy ascribed to black bile (sauda), insomnia and weak digestion. Hakeems put it into khamiras and arq, and prescribed it as a tea for the anxious and the grieving.
Read that list in modern words and it is anxiety, low mood, palpitations and poor sleep, which is a fair description of what people still buy it for.
What research says, plant by plant
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
Reasonably supported, modestly: a 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis in Phytotherapy Research pooled randomised trials of lemon balm for anxiety and depressive symptoms and found improvements against placebo, mainly in short-term, acute settings, without serious side effects. The authors flagged high variation between trials and small numbers. Encouraging, not settled. The European Medicines Agency accepts lemon balm leaf as a traditional herbal medicine for mild stress symptoms, to aid sleep, and for mild digestive complaints such as bloating, in adults and children over 12, with advice to see a doctor if symptoms last beyond two weeks.
Preliminary (laboratory): old test-tube work from the 1980s showed lemon balm extracts can interfere with thyroid-stimulating hormone binding to its receptor and with the antibodies that drive Graves’ disease. That is a dish, not a person, and it has never been shown to change anyone’s thyroid blood tests, but it is the reason thyroid patients get a caution.
Indian catmint (Nepeta hindostana)
Preliminary only: chemists have isolated triterpenes (nepehinol, nepehinal) and a flavonoid, nepitrin, from it, and animal and test-tube work has looked at heart and cholesterol effects. There are no clinical trials in people for anxiety, sleep or palpitations. Tradition only: everything the Unani books say about the heart and mind. A long record of use without alarm counts for something. It is not evidence that it works.
Our honest take: Depends which plant. Lemon balm tea is a reasonable, gentle thing to try for everyday tension and poor sleep; Nepeta badranjboya is a tradition you may follow with your eyes open.
How it is used, and what is inside the products
As a household tea, lemon balm is simple: 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried leaf, or a small handful of fresh leaves, steeped in a cup of just-boiled water for 5 to 10 minutes, usually in the evening. Nepeta badranjboya is brewed the same way. It tastes more herbal, less bright.
In Unani compounds the leaf is one of many ingredients. Khamira Gaozaban and the badranjboya khamiras are thick, sugar-based pastes; our khameera page explains why the sugar is the first thing a diabetic reader should check. Arq Badranjboya is a distillate, essentially fragrant water, often blended with arq gaozaban. For any of these, the pack or a qualified practitioner sets the amount; this page does not. If a palpitation is what sent you to the pansari, read our palpitations guide first, because some causes need a doctor, not a tea.
Gaozaban has the same identity problem, a classical European plant and a different Indo-Pak one sharing a name; our gaozaban identity page untangles that pair.
You take sleeping tablets, anti-anxiety medicine or antihistamines: lemon balm is mildly sedative and the effects add up. Do not drive after a strong cup until you know how it affects you. Thyroid: if you take levothyroxine or are treated for an overactive thyroid, mention regular lemon balm to your doctor; the laboratory thyroid findings are unproven in people but the caution is standard. Pregnancy and breastfeeding: there is no good safety data for either plant as a regular medicinal tea; an occasional cup is unlikely to matter, a daily habit is a question for your doctor. Children under 12: the European monograph does not cover them. Surgery: stop sedative herbs a week before an anaesthetic and tell the anaesthetist.
Not for herbs at all: chest pain, breathlessness, fainting, a racing heart that will not settle, low mood with thoughts of self-harm, or anxiety that stops you working or sleeping for weeks. Those need a doctor this week, and the last two need help today.
Bottom line
Badranjboya is a name, not a plant. The classical one, lemon balm, has modest trial evidence for anxiety and sleep and a clean safety record at tea strength. The Indo-Pak one, Nepeta hindostana, has a long tradition, almost no human research, and no lemon smell, which is the quickest way to tell them apart. The main safety points are sedative stacking and the thyroid caution. If you want a comparison of gentle sleep herbs, our lavender page covers that ground. More explainers like this sit in Unani & Herbal, Decoded.
Badranjboya: your questions answered
Badranjboya kya hota hai?
It is a dried mint-family leaf used in Unani medicine as a mufarreh, an exhilarant for the heart and mind. Classically it was lemon balm; in India and Pakistan the plant sold under the name is usually Nepeta hindostana, Indian catmint.
Badranjboya in English?
Lemon balm, if it is the classical Melissa officinalis. Indian catmint, or simply billilotan, if it is the Nepeta hindostana sold in Indo-Pak shops. Smell a crushed leaf: lemon means lemon balm.
Badranjboya ka botanical name kya hai?
Two are in use: Melissa officinalis L. for the classical drug, and Nepeta hindostana (Roth) Haines, sometimes written Melissa parviflora, for the Indo-Pak trade drug. Both belong to the Lamiaceae.
Badranjboya ke fayde kya hain?
Tradition uses it for palpitations, anxiety, low mood, sleeplessness and weak digestion. For lemon balm specifically, pooled trial results point to modest short-term improvement in anxiety and depressive symptoms. For Nepeta badranjboya there are no human trials.
Badranjboya kis dawa mein hota hai?
In mufarreh compounds, in some khamira recipes alongside gaozaban, in Arq Badranjboya and blended arqs, and in some majoon and sharbat recipes. Check the ingredient list on the pack; the proportion is usually small.
Badranjboya ke nuksan kya hain?
At tea strength it is gentle. The real cautions are drowsiness when combined with sedatives or antihistamines, a theoretical thyroid interaction, and lack of safety data in pregnancy. Stop if you get a rash, nausea or unusual sleepiness.
Badranjboya thyroid mein le sakte hain?
Ask your doctor before making it a daily habit. Laboratory work shows lemon balm can interfere with thyroid-stimulating hormone in a dish, which has not been shown to change people’s thyroid tests, but anyone on levothyroxine or treated for Graves’ disease should mention it.
Kya badranjboya aur lemon balm ek hi cheez hai?
Only when the badranjboya is Melissa officinalis, which is rare in South Asian shops. Most Indo-Pak badranjboya is Nepeta hindostana, a different plant without the lemon scent and without lemon balm’s trials.
Badranjboya neend ke liye kaise istemal karein?
As a plain tea: 1 to 2 teaspoons of dried leaf in a cup of hot water for 5 to 10 minutes, in the evening. Judge it over two weeks. If sleep is still poor after that, the problem needs a doctor’s look rather than a stronger brew.
Badranjboya pregnancy mein?
There is no good safety data for regular medicinal use of either plant in pregnancy or breastfeeding. An occasional cup is unlikely to be a problem; a daily routine is a question for your doctor or midwife.
Sources
- Hammad, Rauf A, Amin KMY. Botanical Authenticity of Badranjboya: An Important Unani Drug. International Journal of Unani and Integrative Medicine, 2021;5(2):170-175
- Molecular barcoding of Melissa officinalis L. (badranjboye) in Iran and identification of adulteration in its medicinal services. BMC Plant Biology, 2022
- Ghazizadeh J et al. The effects of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) on depression and anxiety in clinical trials: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Phytother Res, 2021
- European Medicines Agency: Melissae folium (lemon balm leaf) herbal medicine summary
- Auf’mkolk M et al. Extracts and auto-oxidized constituents of certain plants inhibit the receptor-binding and the biological activity of Graves’ immunoglobulins. Endocrinology, 1985