Monarda punctata
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Photo courtesy Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Monarda punctata |
| Common name: | horsemint; spotted beebalm |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Lamiaceae |
| Growth type: | forb/herb |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native, north end of range |
| Plant height: | 1 - 3' |
| Foliage: | lance shaped leaves, shallowly toothed |
| Flower: | yellowish, purple spotted, 3/4-1" long in whorls, flowers stalkless; flowers surrounded by whitish to lilac bracts |
| Flowering time: | blooms late July to October; fruit September to October |
| Habitat: | dry sand or rocky, open ground, often as weed of fields |
| Range in New Jersey: | throughout Coastal Plain, north to Mercer and Middlesex counties |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | n/a |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | Used medicinally by Native Americans to treat flu and colds; essential oils used to expel hookworms. Stone, in 1910, says "This is one of the characteristic native plants of the Middle district which takes kindly to cultivation, increasing abundantly in fields, along roadsides, etc. While its flowers are handsome individually, the colors are too neutral and the pink bracts are not bright enough to produce much effect in bulk." (668) |