Wild bergamot, known by many other common names, is a popular and showy perennial. Clusters of lavender, pink or white flowers, looking like ragged pompoms, bloom atop 2-5 ft., open-branched stems.
This showy perennial, frequently cultivated, has aromatic leaves used to make mint tea and is used to make Earl Grey tea. Oil from the leaves was formerly used to treat respiratory ailments. The leaves smell minty.
Linnaeus named the genus Monarda in honor of a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588). Monardes never went to the Americas but was able to study medicinal plants in Spain because Spain controlled navigation and commerce from the New World.
Fistulosa means tubular.
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