Spotted Bee-balm (Monarda Punctata)

The proposed Bell Slip Nature Preserve on Buffalo's Outer Harbor is a sand savannah with a mixture of open grassland and forest canopy. It represents one of the rarest habitats in our area. This kind of habitat once characterized much of the shorelines and uplands near our Lake Erie and Buffalo River edges. Sand dunes, grassland, trees and shrubs creating pine/oak savannahs have supported many species of birds, butterflies, and native bee's and other insects and a wide variety of wildlife that depend upon these ecosystems.  While we are not sure of the exact source of the sand at this location we do know that today it supports a remarkable emerging habitat including rare and unusual flowers and grasses, willows, milkweed, and a nurse forest of maturing cottonwoods.  The place is alive with birds, butterflies and a wide variety of pollinators. It is a remarkable place, the kind of habitat that is perfect for the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly which once including this area in its now almost vanished range. One of the unique plants that is found here at the Bell Slip is the Spotted Beebalm (Monarda punctata)

More on Spotted Beebalm (Monarda Punctata), aka Spotted Horsemint

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Database
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center 
 USDA Factsheet
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The Bell Slip Nature Preserve and Buffalo's Outer Harbor

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Photos of Monarada Punctata Summer Fall 2016 (all photos Jburney)

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