PLANT PROFILE

Monarda punctata
horsemint; spotted beebalm



Monarda punctata
Monarda punctata
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)