http://www.wiseacre-gardens.com/plants/wildflower/bergamot.html

Wild Bergamot

Second cousin of Bee Balm - the family resemblance is unmistakable
Wild bergamot is often found in meadows with sandy soil and dry
conditions.
A common north country wildflower.


http://www.holoweb.com/cannon/wild1.htm

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Present in North Dakota in all but a few of our south-central
counties, wild bergamot occurs from Ontario and British Columbia to
Georgia and Mexico, at elevations up to 9,000 ft. Plants are also
known as "horsemints" and "beebalms."

Wild bergamot is a native perennial from slender creeping rhizomes
and thus commonly occurs in large clumps. Two varieties are found in
North Dakota, the most common being a smaller flowered plant with
dark lavender to rose purple flowers. Plants are up to 3 feet tall
with a few erect branches. Leaves are 2-3 inches long, lance-shaped,
and toothed. Flower clusters are solitary at the ends of branches.
Each cluster is about 1 1/2 inches long and contains about 20-50
flowers.

Look for wild bergamot in rich soils at the bases of prairie hills
and in coulees. The plant is noted for its fragrance, and is a source
of oil of thyme. One authority states that Amerindians recognized
four varieties that had different odors. Leaves were eaten boiled
with meat, and a decoction of the plant was made into hair pomade.
The herb is considered an active diaphoretic (sweat inducer). The
species does best where grazing is light or moderate.

Wild bergamot is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) that
contains at least 3500 species worldwide. Lamium is an old Latin name
of a nettle-like plant mentioned by Pliny. The family is noted for
its fragrant oils (lavender, rosemary, mint, horehound, thyme etc).
Monarda is a North American genus of about 15-20 species of which
only one occurs in North Dakota. The genus was dedicated by Linnaeus
to Nicolas Monardes (1493-1588), Spanish physician-botanist and
author of many tracts about useful New World plants. The specific
name fistulosa means "tubular" in botanical Latin, in reference to
the flowers. The species was named by the famous Swedish botanist
Carl von Linne (Linnaeus) in his monumental Species Plantarum of
1753, the earliest accepted work on modern plant taxonomy.