Species
+

Monarda didyma L.

American beebalm, Beebalm, Bergamot, Fragrantbalm

Climate known 52 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Monarda didyma, the crimson beebalm, scarlet beebalm, scarlet monarda, Eau-de-Cologne plant, Oswego tea, or bergamot, is a North American aromatic herb in the family Lamiaceae.

Text from Wikipedia, “Monarda didyma”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Monarda

Monarda is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. The genus is endemic to North America. Common names include bergamot, bee balm, horsemint, and oswego tea, the first being inspired by the fragrance of the leaves, which is reminiscent of bergamot orange. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Monarda”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Ontario, Connecticut, Maine +17
Wild records
1633 in range· 850 open

At a glance

Warmest month
26°C
Jul, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1208mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jul 117 mm (CHELSA)
Light
11–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to September and November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1208 mm a year, wettest July at 117 mm, driest February at 78 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -16.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Monarda coccinea Michx.; Monarda contorta C.Morren; Monarda didyma var. angustifolia Torr.; Monarda didynama Stokes; Monarda kalmiana Pursh and 3 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March to September and November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (854 mm of 1208 mm) takes 8 months, March to September and November. Mean temperature moves 24.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to March and May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1208 mm a year, wettest July at 117 mm, driest February at 78 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1208 mm a year at the habitat, 854 mm of it March to September and November. Wettest month July at 117 mm, driest February at 78 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 957 mm to 1572 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 11 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -16.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -16.0 °C, the absolute minimum -28.9 °C, about 130 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.9 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -7.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells -10.7 °C to -2.5 °C), warmest day 26.2 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -16.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 1 °C in Jan to 26 °C in Jul; mean night from -7 °C in Jan to 17 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1208 mm of rain a year, most in Jul. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1127 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -28.9 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.9 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-40°-20°20°40°frost32.9° 99th-percentile day (undated)-28.9° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 11–39RH 56–61 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1127 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C1 / -2–63 / -1–88 / 4–1314 / 11–1819 / 17–2324 / 22–2726 / 24–2925 / 23–2822 / 20–2515 / 13–199 / 7–133 / 1–8
Night °C-7 / -11–-3-6 / -10–-1-2 / -5–24 / 2–79 / 8–1215 / 13–1817 / 15–2017 / 15–2013 / 11–167 / 5–102 / -0–5-4 / -7–-0
Rain mm85 / 59–12778 / 54–13598 / 61–138103 / 78–132109 / 90–144115 / 90–148117 / 90–162108 / 84–137105 / 87–12794 / 73–12299 / 78–12397 / 67–133
DLI13 / 11–1619 / 17–2126 / 24–2832 / 31–3537 / 35–3839 / 38–4138 / 37–4034 / 33–3527 / 25–2920 / 17–2413 / 11–1711 / 8–14
RH %60 / 57–6459 / 56–6257 / 55–5956 / 55–5858 / 56–6160 / 57–6360 / 57–6461 / 59–6461 / 58–6359 / 57–6160 / 57–6260 / 57–64

Each figure is the median across the 1127 grid cells holding the 1475 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 996:2015 (40.175, -79.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -28.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -16.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1127 distinct grid cells holding the 1475 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 996:2015 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 40.00_-79.375, lapse-corrected -33 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 516 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeOntario, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia· introduced: Austria, Germany, Central European Russia, South European Russia, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker35.688, -82.902 · in the densest population, 1335 records (82% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1633 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 850 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 89 km away. 172 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 158 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1633 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Monarda didymaMonarda didymaMonarda didymaMonarda didymaMonarda didymaMonarda didymaMonarda didymaMonarda didyma

Photographs: (c) Alex Abair, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Paul Roots, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) sblumen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Monarda didyma, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Bee pathogen transmission dynamics: deposition, persistence and acquisition on flowers
Laura L. Figueroa, Malcolm Blinder, Cali Grincavitch, Angus Jelinek (2019) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences
Disease where you dine: plant species and floral traits associated with pathogen transmission in bumble bees
Lynn S. Adler, Kristen M. Michaud, Stephen P. Ellner, Scott H. McArt (2018) · Ecology
Bioactive Compounds and Aroma Profile of Some Lamiaceae Edible Flowers
Ilaria Marchioni, Basma Najar, B. Ruffoni, Andrea Copetta (2020) · Plants
Nutritional and Biological Value of Five Edible Flower Species
Anna Stefaniak, Monika Grzeszczuk (2018) · Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca
Nano-emulsification essential oil of Monarda didyma L. to improve its preservation effect on postharvest blueberry
Yanxin Zhang, Jinlong Dai, Xiaoyun Ma, Chengguo Jia (2023) · Food Chemistry
Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oils from Aerial Parts ofMonarda didymaandMonarda fistulosaCultivated in Italy
Paola Mattarelli, Francesco Epifano, Paola Minardi, Maura Di Vito (2017) · Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants
Is the Antimicrobial Activity of Hydrolates Lower than That of Essential Oils?
Maura Di Vito, Antonina Smolka, Maria Rita Proto, Lorenzo Barbanti (2021) · Antibiotics
Chromatographic profiles and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils obtained from some species and cultivars of the Mentheae tribe (Lamiaceae)
Mariia Shanaida, Nataliia Hudz, Marietta Białoń, Maryna Kryvtsowa (2021) · Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
Chemical Composition, Antifungal and In Vitro Antioxidant Properties of Monarda didyma L. Essential Oil
Daniele Fraternale, Laura Giamperi, Anahi Bucchini, Donata Ricci (2006) · Journal of Essential Oil Research
Physiological Mechanisms of Drought Resistance in Four Native Ornamental Perennials
Douglas S. Chapman, Robert M. Augé (1994) · Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Impact of mulching on growth essential oil composition and its biological activity in Monarda didyma L.
K. Wróblewska, Antoni Szumny, Barbara Żarowska, K. Kromer (2018) · Industrial Crops and Products

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Monarda 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 67 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.