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Wild Bergamot

Monarda fistulosa. Mint Family.

Two to five feet high. Leaves.--Opposite; fragrant; toothed. Flowers.--Purple or purplish-dotted; growing in a solitary, terminal head, as in Oswego tea, p. 284. Calyx.--Tubular; elongated; five-toothed. Corolla.--Elongated; two-lipped. Stamens.--Two; elongated. Pistil.--One, with style two-lobed at apex.

Although the wild bergamot is occasionally found in our eastern woods, it is far more abundant westward, where it is found in rocky places in summer. This is a near relative of the Oswego tea, which it closely resembles in its manner of growth.