Oswego tea

American  

noun

1. a North American plant, Monarda didyma, of the mint family, having a cluster of showy, bright-red tubular flowers.

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Etymology

Origin of Oswego tea

An Americanism dating back to 1745–55

Example Sentences

Upon returning by the gully, we found that its sunny, sloping walls, where not wooded with willows and oak saplings, were resplendent with floral treasures, chief among them being the gerardia, golden-rod in several varieties, tall white asters, a blue lobelia, and vervain, while the seeds of the Oswego tea, prairie clover, bed-straw, and wild roses were in all the glory of ripeness.

From Project Gutenberg

To the Oswego tea, and the fermented liquor extracted from the roots of the dragonnier, Harding had added a regular beer, made from the young shoots of the spruce-fir, which, after having been boiled and fermented, made that agreeable drink, called by the Anglo-Americans spring-beer.

From Project Gutenberg

In our botanic garden was planted a patch six feet across of what is known as Oswego tea, bee balm, or red-flowered bergamot, an interesting plant with considerable beauty.

From Project Gutenberg

It is often called Oswego tea, because the Indians are supposed to have used it for tea.

From Project Gutenberg

On either side of the entrance he had planted a cluster of cardinal flower that was in full bloom, and around the walls in a few places thrifty bunches of Oswego tea and foxfire, that I would have walked miles to secure for my wild garden under the Bartlett pear tree.

From Project Gutenberg