Each flower is about 1 cm (1⁄2 inch) long with light green sepals,[5] two main 'lips', two visible stamens, and a style that is divided at its tip.

[4] Arranged oppositely along the stem, the leaves of hairy wood mint are long but thin, becoming wider near the base of the leaf.

[4] The German-American botanist Frederick Pursh described the hairy wood mint as Monarda hirsuta in his 1814 work Flora americae septentrionalis, before George Bentham gave it its current binomial name.

It is common throughout the eastern United States, including Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

[4] Hairy wood mint is not generally used as food by humans, but it is often planted in gardens for its beauty and pleasant aroma; when the leaves are crushed or damaged they give off a minty scent.