Prairie Night (
Monarda didyma) bee balm is a showy variety sure to attract hummingbirds and butterflies to the garden. Paroli Galperti/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Meet genus Monarda, aka bee balm, a member of the mint (
Laminaceae) family, named in honor of the 16th century Spanish physician and botanist Nicolas Bautista Monardes. Monardes wrote some of the earliest books about the medicinal uses of America s native plants from intel gathered by early explorers who discovered Monarda and some of its many uses from the indigenous people who inhabited the New World.
Native Americans infused the Monarda plant in tea to treat lung ailments like colds and flu and used it topically as an antiseptic for wounds and to reduce the swelling of bee stings hence, its common name: bee balm.