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Lamiaceae
Wild Bergamot
Monarda fistulosa
Healing, protection, restoration.
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Genus
- Monarda
- Native to
- North America
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- Herbaceous perennial
- Height
- 60–120 cm
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Average, well-drained
- Water
- Low to moderate
- Hardiness
- 3–9
- Lifespan
- Long-lived perennial
Did you know
- Wild bergamot is sometimes called 'bee balm', though that name is more often used for its scarlet-flowered cousin Monarda didyma.
- Native peoples — particularly the Blackfoot, Ojibwe, and Iroquois — brewed wild bergamot leaves into a tea for colds, fevers, and digestive trouble.
- It's named after the Italian bergamot orange because the leaves smell almost identical to Earl Grey tea — even though they're unrelated plants.
- Crushed leaves contain thymol, the same antiseptic compound found in thyme, and the plant was used as a poultice for wounds.
- Wild bergamot is one of the most important native nectar sources for hummingbirds, native bees, and clearwing hummingbird moths.
Color meanings
Lavender
Quiet medicine