Spotted Bee-balm or Horsemint, Monarda punctata L., Minnesota Native Wildflowers, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Spotted Bee-balm	Monarda punctata L.	Mint (LAMIACEAE)	Historical plant - not extant	Late Summer
Other names and notes	(Dotted Horsemint). This stout perennial, grows to 3' in height on square, hairy stems. As a member of the mint family it is aromatic. Leaves are opposite, lance-like, with shallow teeth and a pointed tip. Bottoms of the leaves are hairy. The flowers are quite conspicuous, appearing in dense whorls (cymes) in the leaf axils and finally in a terminal cluster. Flowers are tubular, 3/4 to 1" long, yellowish with purple spots. The upper corolla lip is stiff and strongly arched, the lower lip is broader. The stamens are shorter than the petals and thus do not protrude. Even more conspicuous are the white to lilac colored bracts that surround the flower cyme. The mature fruit is a nutlet containing one seed. Spotted Bee-balm likes full sun in dryer areas, but not without water in hot summer periods. Seedlings are not tolerant of over watering. The genus, Monarda, is named after a doctor of Seville, Nicolas Monardes, who in 1569 wrote a book about the medicinal plants of the new world.


Below: Note the square hairy stem.

Below: Flower details - Note the stiff upper lip, less broad than the lower lip, the purple spots,and the conspicuous lilac colored bracts that surround the flower.

Notes: This is a historical Garden plant. Eloise Butler first planted it on Aug. 21, 1912 with plants obtained in Mendota, MN; and again on Sept 1st, 1912 from the same source. Martha Crone reported planting it in 1934 and '35. It was still in the Garden at the time of her 1951 Garden census, but has not appeared on any later census. Spotted bee-balm has been collected in only 16 counties in Minnesota, widely scattered, but mostly in the SE Quadrant. In North America it is generally found east of the Mississippi River plus Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Calif. In Canada it is known in Ontario and Quebec.

Medicinal Lore: Oleum Monardae or Oil of Horsement was listed officially in the U.S. for use as medicinal external vesicant. An infusion was sometimes used for colic or as a diuretic in urinary disorders. The active constituent of the plant is an abundant volatile oil which contains thymol, in fact 61% thymol, which is also obtained from the Thyme plant and is an important commercial product obtained from Thyme. See Mrs. Grieve for more details.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 15, 16, 30, 31, 33, W2 & W3. Distribution principally from W2 and also 31, 34 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

022012