Oswego-tea

Monarda didyma, commonly called Oswego-tea, bee balm, or scarlet bergamot, is an aromatic herbaceous perennial in the Lamiaceae family reaching approximately 0.9 m in height. The plant spreads indefinitely by rhizomes and stolons, producing upright square stems clothed with opposite, ovate-lanceolate, serrate, fragrant leaves that release a strong orange-bergamot scent when crushed. From June through September it bears dense terminal whorled heads of tubular two-lipped flowers in scarlet-red (also lavender, pink, purple, and white cultivars), subtended by leafy red-tinged bracts and pollinated chiefly by hummingbirds and long-tongued bees. Native to eastern North America from Quebec south to Georgia along moist woodland edges, streambanks, and thickets, the species thrives in fertile moist soil in sun or light shade and is widely cultivated as an ornamental and herbal tea plant. The foliage is rich in volatile oils dominated by thymol, accounting for its antiseptic and carminative reputation in both Indigenous and Anglo-American herbalism.