WILD BERGAMOT
(Monarda fisiulosa) Mint family
Flowers - Extremely variable, purplish, lavender, magenta, rose,
pink, yellowish pink, or whitish, dotted; clustered in a
solitary, nearly flat terminal head. Calyx tubular, narrow,
5-toothed, very hairy within. Corolla 1 to 1 1/2 in. long,
tubular, 2-lipped, upper lip
erect, toothed; lower lip spreading,
3-lobed, middle lobe longest; 2 anther-bearing stamens
protruding; 1 pistil; the style 2-lobed. Stem: 2 to 3 ft. high,
rough, branched. Leaves: Opposite, lance-shaped, saw-edged, on
slender petioles, aromatic, bracts and upper leaves whitish or
the color of flower.
Preferred Habitat - Open woods, thickets, dry rocky hills.
Flowering Season - June-September.
Distribution - Eastern Canada and Maine, westward to Minnesota,
south to Gulf of Mexico.
Half a dozen different shades of bloom worn by this handsome,
robust perennial afford an excellent illustration of the trials
that beset one who would arbitrarily group flowers according to
color. If the capricious blossom shows a decided preference for
any shade, it is for magenta, the royal purple of the ancients,
scarcely tolerated now except by Hoboken Dutch and the belles of
the kitchen, whose Sunday hats are resplendent with intense
effects.
Only a few bergamot flowers open at a time; the rest of the
slightly rounded head, thickly set with hairy calices, looks as
if it might be placed in a glass cup and make an excellent pen
wiper. If the cultivated human eye (and stomach) revolt at
magenta, It is ever a favorite shade with butterflies. They
flutter in ecstasy over the gay flowers; indeed, they are the
principal visitors and benefactors, for the erect corollas,
exposed organs, and level-topped heads are well adapted to their
requirements. That exquisite little feathered jewel, the
ruby-throated hummingbird, flashes about the bright patches an
instant, and is gone; but he too has paid for his feast in
transferring pollen. Insects which land anywhere they please on
the flowers, receive pollen on various places, just as in the
case of the scarlet Oswego tea, of similar formation. Small bees,
which if unable to drain the brimming tubes of nectar, at least
sip from them and help themselves to pollen also, without paying
the flower's price; and certain mischievous wasps, forever bent
on nipping holes in tubes they cannot honestly drain, give a
score of other pilferers an opportunity to steal sweets.
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Next: SNAKEHEAD TURTLEHEAD BALMONY SHELLFLOWER CODHEAD
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