Bergamot is a North American native. A herb of many names - bergamot, bee-balm, monarda, Oswego tea.. The leaves add a special bouquet to a tea blend, similar to the flowery essence that pervades Earl Grey tea.  Bergamot colours for weeks in July and early August. Give it organically enriched ground that doesn't dry out, or it will lose its lower leaves and become stunted.  Give it elbow room and good air circulation or it will become lanky and mildewed. Divide it first thing in spring or early in autumn, or it will spread, mintlike, into a choked mat of weak shoots. Divide the roots, but toss out the spent centre of the clump and retain three-shoot segments from the outside as new plants. Set these firmly, and a little deeper than they were growing in , in the best ground you can manage in sun or part shade.

Medicinal Part: Flowers and leaves

Solvents: Boiling water

Uses:

The delicate lavender flowers of wild bergamot (Monarda fisulosa) were used by native people at one time. Leaves were steaped into a medicinal tea for mild fevers, headaches, colds and sore throats; other herbalist speak of bergamot, a general tonic, as a specific for stomach ailments.
The genus is named for Spanish medical botanist Nicholas de Monardes, author of a book pleasantly titled Joyfull Newes out of the Newe Founde Worlde.

Reference: The Harrowsmith Illustrated Book of Herbs, by Patrick Lima