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| ## wild bergamot {#wild-bergamot .Title-Header}                       |
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| *Monarda fistulosa* L.                                                |
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| Plant Symbol = MOFI                                                   |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center

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# Alternative Names

Bee-balm

# Use

*Ethnobotanic*: The Tewa Indians because of the flavor it imparted
cooked Wild bergamot with meat. The Iroquois used the plant in the
making of a beverage. The plant has a wide variety of medicinal uses.
The Ojibwe put a wad of chewed leaves of this plant into their nostrils
to relieve headache. The tops of the plant were dried and used as a
sternutatory for the relief of colds. The leaves were placed in warm
water baths for babies. The Flambeau Ojibwe gathered and dried the whole
plant, boiling it in a vessel to obtain the volatile oil to inhale to
cure catarrh and bronchial affections. The Menomini also used this plant
as a remedy for catarrh, steeping the leaves and inflorescences in a
tea. The Meskwaki used this plant in combination with other plants to
relieve colds. The Hocak (Winnebago) used wild bergamot in their sweat
bath and inhaled the fumes to cure colds. A decoction of boiled leaves
was used as a cure for eruptions on the face. The Cherokee made a warm
poultice of the plant to relieve a headache. The Teton Dakota boiled
together the leaves and flowers as a cure for abdominal pains. The
Blackfoot made a tea from the blossoms and leaves to cure stomach pains.
They also applied boiled leaves to the pustules of acne. The Tewa dried
the plant and ground it into a powder that was rubbed over the head to
cure headaches, over the body to cure fever, and as a remedy for sore
eyes and colds. Early white settlers used it as a diaphoretic and
carminative, and occasionally employed it for the relief of flatulent
colic, nausea and vomiting.

*Economic*: Wild bergamot is used in flower arrangements. Bees,
butterflies and hummingbirds use the plant for nectar.

# Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

# Description

*General*: Mint Family (Lamiaceae). This aromatic herbaceous perennial
is 5 to 12 dm. high and has branched, hairy stems and spreads by seeds
and rhizomes. The opposite leaves are distinctly petioled and
deltoid-lanceolate to lanceolate and slightly toothed. Wild bergamot has
square stems with gray-green foliage. The flowers bloom from June to
September. They are solitary and terminal on the flowering branches and
the two stamens surpass the upper lip. The flowers are tubular, 13-15
nerved, with lobes much shorter than the tube. The corolla is lavender
and strongly bilabiate. The upper lip is narrow, entire, and softly
pubescent while the lower lip is broader.

# Distribution

This plant is found in upland woods, thickets, and prairies from Quebec
to Manitoba and British Columbia south to Georgia, Louisiana, and
Arizona. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page
for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

# Establishment

*General*: When the seeds are ripe, cut off the seed heads and spread
them over a clean, dry surface indoors to air-dry for several days. Then
place some of the seed heads in a paper bag and shake. Many of the seeds
will fall into the bag. Repeat the process with the remaining heads.
Next run the seeds and associated chaff through a sieve. Store the seeds
in a dry sealed and labeled container or ziploc bag with wet sand or
peat moss in the refrigerator that is kept under 40 degrees F for three
months.

*Propagation by seeds*: Sow seeds in flats during January and stored in
a greenhouse are expected to germinate in one to two weeks. The soil mix
can be one-third sand and two-thirds commercial plug mix. Apply a
starter fertilizer solution for the seedlings. Water flats when the soil
surface is dry to the touch. Keep the seedlings in the flats for 6-7
weeks, and then transplant them to 3-inch pots. Continue to water
seedlings when the surface is dry to the touch. Pinch off the tops of
the plants several times during the growing season to encourage
branching and bushier grow habit. Apply a weekly application of an
all-purpose fertilizer for the transplants. When the roots fill the
container (about 2 months) they are ready for outplanting in the garden.

Plant seedlings in a sunny, weed-free well-drained soil, one and
one-half to two feet apart. Water, until rains come.

Seeds can also be broadcast on a weed-free surface from January to
mid-May in sunny locations. Once the seeds germinate seedlings should be
watered during extended dry period. During the first summer of full
growth mow the area 3 to 5 times to keep the plants between 8 and 4
inches tall. Mowing also reduces weeds.

*Propagation by cuttings*: Take stem tip cuttings, 3-4 inches long, any
time from May to August. Remove the lower leaves and all flower or seed
heads and insert the stems into a sand and perlite-rooting medium. Bury
each cutting up to the first node. Place the cuttings in an enclosed
area and mist them several times a day. In 4 to 5 weeks the cuttings
should be well rooted and can be transplanted to pots. Then outplant the
plants in the garden in the early autumn.

# Management

Once established, wild bergamot still benefits from extra watering
during dry summers. Continue mowing the area, once a year, after the
hardest killing frosts or the following spring. This keeps woody plants
from encroaching and removes plants that have died back. Since the plant
spreads by rhizomes, it can get aggressive. The plant can be kept from
spreading by divisions. Division of large plants every 2 to 3 years also
keeps them healthy. Mature clumps can be divided in March before they
send up stems. Dig up a portion of the clump and divide it into
sections. Replant and water the divisions promptly. Continue to add leaf
mold and compost to your soil, as the plant\'s shallow root systems
spread easily through light soil.

# Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Seeds and plants of selected wild bergamot are available from many
nurseries. It is best to plant species from your local area, adapted to
the specific site conditions where the plants are to be grown. Contact
your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

# References

Banks, W.H. 1953. *Ethnobotany of the Cherokee Indians*. Masters Thesis,
University of Tennessee.

Gilmore, M.R. 1932. *Some Chippewa uses of plants*. Papers of the
Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 17:119-143.

Gilmore, M.R. 1977. *Uses of plants by the Indians of the Missouri River
region*. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska

Gleason, H.A. & A. Cronquist 1991. *Manual of vascular plants of
northeastern United States and adjacent Canada*. Second Edition. The New
York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.

Johnston, A. 1970. *Blackfoot Indian utilization of the flora of the
northwestern Great Plains.* Economic Botany 4:301-324.

Moerman, D.E. 1998*. Native American ethnobotany*. Timber Press,
Portland, Oregon.

Phillips, H.R.. 1985*. Growing and propagating wild flowers*. The
University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Smith, H.H. 1923*. Ethnobotany of the Menomini*. Bulletin of the Public
Museum of the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 4(1):8-175.

Waugh, F.W. 1916. *Iroquois foods and food preparation.* Department of
Mines, Ottawa, Canada.

Smith, H.H. 1928. *Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki*. Bulletin of the Public
Museum of the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 4(2):175-326.

Smith, H.H. 1932. *Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe.* Bulletin of the Public
Museum of the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 4:(3)327-525.

Vestal, P.A. & R.E. Schultes 1939. *The economic botany of the Kiowa
Indians as it relates to the history of the Tribe*. Botanical Museum,
Cambridge, Massachusetts

# Prepared By & Species Coordinator

##### *M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

c/o Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis,
California

Edited 05dec00 jsp; 21may03 ahv; 060802 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
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