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Posted By: BranShea Monarda didymous - 05/11/09 08:55 PM
Monarda_didyma , aka bergamot.

A question about the word didymous. Would the monarda be named didyma because the flowers are bilabiate?

"Monarda / Oswego Tea comes from the Oswego Indians who taught the immigrants how to use it for tea after the Boston tea party in 1773. The flowers and leaves are good ingredients for potpourri making. Note that the bergamot herb is not the source of bergamot oil, used to flavor Earl Grey tea; that comes from the bergamot orange, a Mediterranean citrus fruit."

monarda

tea party ( ha! a tax revolt and tea smugglers history )
Posted By: LukeJavan8 Re: Monarda didymous - 05/15/09 04:22 PM
Originally Posted By: BranShea
Monarda_didyma , aka bergamot.

A question about the word didymous. Would the monarda be named didyma because the flowers are bilabiate?

"Monarda / Oswego Tea comes from the Oswego Indians who taught the immigrants how to use it for tea after the Boston tea party in 1773. The flowers and leaves are good ingredients for potpourri making. Note that the bergamot herb is not the source of bergamot oil, used to flavor Earl Grey tea; that comes from the bergamot orange, a Mediterranean citrus fruit."

monarda





tea party ( ha! a tax revolt and tea smugglers history )



And the second word, didyma,something to do with 'twin'?

Posted By: BranShea Re: Monarda didymous - 05/15/09 04:43 PM
Didyma was an ancient Ionian sanctuary, the modern Didim, Turkey, containing a temple and oracle of Apollo, the Didymaion. In Greek didyma means "twin", but the Greeks who sought a "twin" at Didyma ignored the Carian origin of the name.

This is my amateur find. I'm sure zmejhzd wil know what Carian means. I don't.
Posted By: LukeJavan8 Re: Monarda didymous - 05/23/09 11:58 PM
Probably a local name they called themselves, as in the thread
concerning the Phoenicians, Hurrians, et. al. They had their
own name for themselves, and outsiders called them other
things. Native Americans, notably the Lakota were called
Sioux by their enemies, and the name stuck.
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