Any of several North American perennial plants of the mint family, also known as bee balm , fragrant balm, and Indian's plume.
The leaves are used as an herb to flavour tea, punches, lemonade, and other cold drinks. Monarda didyma , native to the U.S., is made into Oswego tea, a beverage used by the American Indian Oswego tribe and said to be the drink adopted by the 18th-century colonists during their boycott of British tea. The pear-shaped fruit of the bergamot orange ( Citrus bergamia ), found chiefly in Calabria, Italy, is valued by the flavouring and perfume industries for the essential oil extracted from its peel. The bergamot pear, a popular winter pear cultivated in Britain, is a large, round fruit with yellowish green skin.