Monarda didyma
Bee balm has a fresh citrus-mint aroma and flavor. It is a Northeast-native garden herb also known as Oswego tea.1
The name “Oswego tea” is linked to the Oswego Nation’s use of the plant for fragrant teas before early botanists documented it.2
Bee balm is also called wild bergamot because its scent recalls bergamot orange, but the two plants are unrelated: bee balm is a mint-family perennial, while the bergamot used to scent Earl Grey is a citrus fruit. Flower flavor can vary noticeably among Monarda species and cultivars.3
Like other mint-family herbs, bee balm carries much of its aroma in tiny oil glands projecting from the leaf surface. Those exposed glands are part of the plant’s chemical defense and help explain why bruising the leaf releases scent so readily.4
Footnotes
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University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Maine Home Garden Newsletter — May 2026,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
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University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Maine Home Garden Newsletter — May 2026,” 2026. ↩
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University of Minnesota Extension, “Edible Flowers,” accessed July 17, 2026; Smithsonian Gardens, “A Tempest in a Teapot: Alternative Plants to Traditional Tea,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩
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Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. (Scribner, 2004), PDF p. 416. ↩