Bergamot, or bee balm, is a North American native, a perennial that blooms profusely in the summer. It grows two to four feet tall and occurs in shades of scarlet, burgundy, mauve, pink, and white. The plant probably got its name because the scent of its leaf resembles that of the small, bitter, Italian bergamot orange. The Oswego Indians drank a tea of the leaves and introduced it to the early settlers who used it as a tea substitute after the Boston Tea Party. It became popular as a European garden and tisane plant after the settlers sent back seeds. Bergamot attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, and bumblebees. (Honeybees have difficulty reaching the nectar in the tubular flowers.) Use the leaves and flowers in potpourri, the dried flowers in crafts and the fresh flowers in bouquets. Three teaspoons of fresh young bergamot leaves added to one teaspoon of China tea and steeped for five minutes in two cups of boiling water make an herbal "Earl Grey" tea.