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 otten considerably 

 branched. The underground stems 

 are thick and tough. 



The flowers are produced in 

 terminal clusters surrounded by 

 whitish or purplish bracts, some 

 large and leaflike and others long 

 and narrow with threadlike points. 

 The tubular calyx is 15-ribbed, 

 5-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 is 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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