LABIATAE MINT FAMILY 
WILD BERGAMOT 
Monarda fistulosa L. 
This genus was named in honor of Nicholas Monardes, 
Spanish physician and botanist of the latter sixteenth century. 
One of the most beautiful and showy of all the Mint tribe is 
the Wild Bergamot, which despite 
its name is often content within 
the confines of a flower garden. 
However, it prefers the dry soil of . 
prairies, hills or roadsides, where 
it is found from Maine to Minne- 
sota, south to Florida and Texas. 
Its attractive flowers are much 
frequented by butterflies and 
sometimes by hummingbirds, 
which feed during the middle of 
summer upon its abundant nectar. 
This is a perennial which us- 
ually grows 2-4 feet high. The 
stem is 4-angled, more or less 
hairy and often considerably 
branched. The underground stems 
are thick and tough. 
The flowers are produced in 
terminal clusters surrounded by 
whitish or purplish bracts, some P=) SSR 
ae 
large and leaflike and others long 
Bion with threadlike points. [er 
The tubular calyx is 15-ribbed, 
s-lobed and hairy inside. The long 
2-lipped corolla is usually lilac or pink. The 2 stamens are very 
slender and 2-lobed at the top. The ovary 1s deeply 4-parted and 
forms 4 nutlets in fruit. 
The Purple Bergamot, Monarda fistulosa L. var. rubra Gray, 
is so named from the conspicuous purplish bracts of the inflorescence. 
They surround the bright crimson flowers in a solitary terminal 
cluster which blossoms from June to August. The leaves are very 
pungent. On dry hills and in thickets this plant ranges from Maine 
and Ontario to Minnesota south to Florida and Louisiana. 
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