Perennial 7-15 dm, often pilose at the nodes; lvs thin, ovate or deltoid-ovate to nearly lanceolate, 7-15 נ2.5-6 cm, acuminate, serrate, broadly acute to commonly rounded at base; petioles 1-4 cm; heads 2-4 cm thick (excluding the cors); bracteal lvs lanceolate, longer than the cals, usually red-tinted; fls inodorous, ornithophilous; cal 10-14 mm, glabrous to minutely puberulent, nearly or quite glabrous in the throat, the lobes 1-2 mm, subulate above a triangular base; cor scarlet to crimson, seldom deep red-purple, 3-4.5 cm, the nearly straight upper lip half as long as the tube; 2n=36. Moist woods and thickets; Me. to Mich., s. to N.J., W.Va., and O., and along the mts. to n. Ga. July-Sept. Hybridizes with no. 3 [Monarda clinopodia L.].
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
