Infrequent in a few of the southern counties. It is usually found in dry, white and black oak woods and less frequently in beech woods. The flowers are generally white or yellowish white.

Simple or branched perennial to 1 m, the stems glabrous or sparsely hairy; lvs ovate to lance-deltoid, 6-12 cm, acuminate, serrate, obtuse or more often rounded at base, the main ones usually ovate and twice as long as wide; petioles 1-3 cm; heads 1.3-3 cm thick (excluding cors); bracts lanceolate, largely green but often whitish or anthocyanic toward the base; fls fragrant, entomophilous; cal-tube glabrous or minutely puberulent, or villous either outside or inside at the summit, the hairs when present quite unlike those of no. 2 [Monarda fistulosa L.]; cal-lobes glandular; cor white or ochroleucous, 1.5-3 cm, the upper lip slender, nearly straight, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. Woods and thickets; Conn. to O., Ill., and Mo., s. to N.C. and Ala. June, July. Intergrades with no. 2 [Monarda fistulosa L.].

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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