Wild Bergamont, Monarda fistulosa L., Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Wild Bergamot & Purple Bergamot	Monarda fistulosa L. & Monarda media Willd.	Mint	Upland	Wild - Late Summer to Early Autumn. Purple - Early Summer to Late Summer
Other names and notes	Bergamots all have flowers in dense heads with the stamens protruding. Wild Bergamot has pink to lilac color flowers with the bracts under the flower with a pink tinge. The Purple Bergamot has deeper red-purple flowers than the Wild Bergamot and the bracts under the base of the flower become quite dark at maturity. The stamens protrude beyond the narrow upper lip. Leaves have a gray appearance and are lance shaped with a triangular base. The plants grows upwards to 3+ feet high on stems that can have some gray hair. Leaves may have hair also. The green parts have a distinctive aroma when crushed. Bergamot is an ingredient in Earl Gray Tea. There are not many plants of Purple Bergamot in the Upland Garden compared with the proliferation of Wild Bergamot. It tends to bloom earlier than Wild Bergamot.


Above: A grouping of Wild Bergamot in early August	Above: A flower head of Wild Bergamot
Below: An example of Purple Bergamot - not found in large groupings like the Wild Bergamot.	Below: A flower head of Purple Bergamot in mid-July

Below: Monarch Butterfly on an older flower head of mid-August	Below: The leaf structure of the Bergamots

Notes: Wild Bergamot is indigenous to the Garden area. Eloise Butler catalogued it on Sept. 6, 1907. The plant is native to most counties of Minnesota, however, there are subspecies that are more restricted such as Monarda fistulosa L. ssp. fistulosa var. fistulosa, that is native to 20 counties that are principally in the Western 1/3 of the state. Purple Bergamot is not native or generally found in the State. It is a plant native to the eastern United States with Illinois it's most westward known native range. It's date of appearance in the Garden is uncertain. It was not included on Martha Crone's 1951 census of Garden plants and did not enter the Garden until 1971 when Gardener Ken Avery wrote in The Fringed Gentian™ that "a clump of Purple Bergamot just appeared in the Garden this year!"

Eloise Butler wrote of this plant: "Mrs. Mable Osgood Wright, in her The Garden, You and I, describes a fascinating garden designed by an invalid lady, in which nothing was admitted but plants with fragrant flowers or leaves. In such a garden, the mints would abound, and among them would be Monarda fistulosa, the Wild Bergamot, that now enlivens the borders of woods and meadows with large clumps of bright lavender bloom. Abundant as it is, we are never ready to cry “Hold! Enough!” For, besides its delicate perfume, it delights the eye as well. This plant will at once remind one of the cultivated, red-flowered bee balm or Oswego tea (Monarda didyma). The mints may be recognized by their square stems, two-lipped flowers, and usually aromatic odor." Published July 23, 1911, Minneapolis Sunday Tribune

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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.

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