OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Monarda didyma   FAMILY Lamiaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Monarda didyma   FAMILY Lamiaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 164-23-001:

Monarda didyma   FAMILY Lamiaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH A review of the genus Monarda (Labiatae) (McClintock & Epling, 1942)

Monarda didyma

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Monarda didyma

 

COMMON NAME:
Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_modi_001_lvd

        

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

JK Marlow    jkm0305o_20

May    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

Leaves ovate to deltoid-ovate to lanceolate, serrate, base nearly rounded, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Craig Myers    cam_red

July        NC-TN

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Monarda was widely used as a source of tea after the Boston Tea Party, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Gill Newberry    gn07_m_didyma_plants

July        

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Gill Newberry    gn07_monard_didyma_inf

July        

Showy reddish bracts, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

JK Marlow    jkm200717_6654

July    Jackson County    NC

Nantahala National Forest

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Keith Bradley    kab_monarda_didyma_2208

July    Haywood County    NC

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Keith Bradley    kab_monarda_didyma_2226

July    Haywood County    NC

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_m_didyma_72306_2

July    Towns-Union Counties    GA

Brasstown Bald

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

JK Marlow    jkm0308v_11

August    Haywood County    NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

Pollinator at work.

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Patrick D. McMillan    pdmmdidyma_brp90

Month Unknown        NC

Blue Ridge Parkway

Corolla odorless, upper lip nearly straight, with no obvious tuft of hairs, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Monarda didyma, Scarlet Beebalm, Oswego Tea

Tim Spira    tpsmdidyma

Month Unknown        

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Monarda didyma   FAMILY Lamiaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Monarda didyma   FAMILY Lamiaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 164-23-001:
Monarda didyma   FAMILY Lamiaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH A review of the genus Monarda (Labiatae) (McClintock & Epling, 1942)
Monarda didyma

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Monarda didyma

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

942

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: seepage slopes, periglacial boulderfields with abundant seepage, streambanks, boggy places, usually in strong to moderately filtered sunlight, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Mountains of the Carolinas & Georgia, and to the NC Piedmont

Common in NC Mountains, rare or waifs elsewhere in GA-NC-SC

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Simple
Opposite
Leaves have petioles.

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Scarlet-red
Bilaterally symmetrical
5-toothed calyx
2-lipped tubular corolla
2 exserted stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Schizocarp of mericarps

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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