Herb library · Herb · Monarda fistulosa
Wild bergamot (bee balm)
A lavender-flowered prairie mint with a strong oregano-like scent, used as medicine and tea by the peoples of the Great Plains. It has not been studied in people.
Traditional use
Gilmore (1919) records that the Teton Dakota, who call it "elk medicine," boiled the flowers and leaves together into a drink for stomach and abdominal pains, and that the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) boiled the leaves into a wash for pimples and other eruptions on the face. The Omaha-Ponca name means "bitter herb." It is grown today as a garden plant for bees and brewed as a tea.
What studies show
No studies in people of this herb on its own yet. What is known of it comes from the traditions that use it.
- Insufficient
Stomach pain and skin: no study of wild bergamot in people was found. Its research covers the chemistry of its oil, which is rich in thymol and carvacrol (the compounds that flavor thyme and oregano), and lab work on cells and microbes.
Be careful of
Cautions
- NoteThere is no modern safety information for taking it as a medicine. Its concentrated essential oil is much stronger than the tea and should not be swallowed.
- PregnancyNo safety information for pregnancy or breastfeeding was found; avoid medicinal amounts then.
- Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.
From the old books
What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.
“By the Teton Dakota the flowers and leaves are boiled together to make a medicine which is drunk to cure abdominal pains.”
Sources
- Essential Oils from Monarda fistulosa: Chemical Composition and Activation of Transient Receptor Potential A1 (TRPA1) Channels (Molecules, 2020) — PubMed record (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
Reviewed September 25, 2026.