Bee Balm.Monarda didyma.Oswego Tea.
Found in July (but occasionally later in the season also), in the shade of moist woods, frequently near water.
The stalk grows from 1 to 2 feet high, and is noticeably square; it is juicy, hairy and rough to the touch. In color, light green, with a red ring at the joints.
The leaf is oval, broad at the base, and tapering to a long, sharp point, many ribbed, with its margin coarsely notched, and rough with hairs; green in color. The leaves, on short, hairy, red stems, grow in pairs, which are at alternate angles with each other.
The conspicuous flower is tubular, very small at the base, spreading wide in the throat, and 2-lipped; the upper lip is very narrow, sharp-pointed, and curving, the lower lip is larger, spreading, and often2-cleft; the texture is fine and delicate. The pistil and 2 long, slender stamens protrude from under the tip of the upper lip, and, like the corolla, are colored a full, glowing red. The small calyx, with its round, narrow-throated, and 5-pointed tube, is of a papery texture, and finely grooved; in color it is a duller and darker red than the corolla. The flowers are set in a large terminal head, that is surrounded by a row of drooping, oval, smooth, red leaf-like bracts.
These bracts, while bright in color, do not possess the rich fullness of hue which belongs to the flowers themselves; just beneath them a pair of stalk-leaves crowd up close, and are each adorned with a dash of scarlet, as though the dye had spilled over from the blossoms. The buds open in the center of the head first, and continue blooming in rings, outward. Not even the Cardinal Flower produces a more vivid effect than a group of these brilliant flowers, standing beside a pool of dark water, in the heavy shade of forest trees.