Bee Balm

Bee Balm

Common name:  Bee balm, scarlet beebalm, Oswego tea, red bergamot
Scientific name:  Monarda didyma

Family:  Mint, Lamiaceae

Bloom period:  June through September

What to look for:  Bright scarlet red or clear pink tubular flowers, tightly clustered into dense, rounded, ragged pom pom-like clusters atop 3’ tall square stems. 

Where to see it:  In the Village Green butterfly garden.

Benefit to pollinators:  M. didyma attracts a variety of bees, swallowtail butterflies, and ruby-throated hummingbirds.  It is a larval host to several moth species, including the hermit sphinx, orange mint moth, and the raspberry pyrausta.

More info:   

This wildflower is known as bee balm because it’s a favorite food of bees; Oswego tea because it was used by the Iroquois in infusions; and bergamot because its leaves and flowers, when crushed, smell faintly of the bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia), the scent in Earl Grey tea. 

M. Didyma continues to be used by herbalists and Native Americans for a variety of ailments: colds, flu, upper respiratory problems, gas, diarrhea, nausea, fevers, and whooping cough, and topically for skin problems, wounds, sore throats, toothaches, and mouth sores.  The boiled leaves were wrapped in cloth for sore eyes, headaches, muscle spasms, fungal infections, and under bandages to slow bleeding.