Horsemint, Bee Balm, Oswego Tea

I learned this plant as "Horsemint," but it is called "Wild Bergamot" most often in field guides. It's also called "Oswego Tea" and "Bee Balm." Some links:

• Wild Bergamot Monarda fistulosa from the Connecticut Botanical Society.
• USDA Plants Profile for Monarda fistulosa L.. They provide this ethnobotanical information:

  The Tewa Indians...cooked Wild bergamot with meat. The Iroquois used the plant in the making of a beverage....The Ojibwe put a wad of chewed leaves of this plant into their nostrils to relieve headache. The tops of the plant were dried and used as a sternutatory for the relief of colds. The leaves were placed in warm water baths for babies. The Flambeau Ojibwe gathered and dried the whole plant, boiling it in a vessel to obtain the volatile oil to inhale to cure catarrh and bronchial affections. The Menomini also used this plant as a remedy for catarrh, steeping the leaves and inflorescences in a tea. The Meskwaki used this plant in combination with other plants to relieve colds. The Hocak (Winnebago) used wild bergamot in their sweat bath and inhaled the fumes to cure colds. A decoction of boiled leaves was used as a cure for eruptions on the face. The Cherokee made a warm poultice of the plant to relieve a headache. The Teton Dakota boiled together the leaves and flowers as a cure for abdominal pains. The Blackfoot made a tea from the blossoms and leaves to cure stomach pains. They also applied boiled leaves to the pustules of acne. The Tewa dried the plant and ground it into a powder that was rubbed over the head to cure headaches, over the body to cure fever, and as a remedy for sore eyes and colds. Early white settlers used it as a diaphoretic and carminative, and occasionally employed it for the relief of flatulent colic, nausea and vomiting.

• Native Plant Database "Oswego Tea" entry from The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center