''Thymus serpyllum'', known by the common names of Breckland thyme, Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the mint family,

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil (herb), ba ...

. It is a low, usually prostrate

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interch ...

forming creeping stems up to tall. The oval

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

leaves are up to 8 mm. The strongly scented

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s are either lilac, pink-purple, magenta, up to 6 mm long and produced in clusters. The species is native to most of Europe and North Africa. The hardy plant tolerates some pedestrian traffic and produces odors ranging from heavily herbal to lightly lemon, depending on the variety.

Description

Wild thyme is a creeping dwarf evergreen shrub, growing to tall. It has woody stems up to 10 cm long and a

taproot A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproot ...

. It forms matlike plants that root from the nodes of the squarish, limp stems. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are 3–8 mm long in opposite pairs, nearly stalkless, with linear elliptic round-tipped blades and untoothed margins. The plant sends up erect flowering shoots in summer. The flowers are 4–6 mm long and usually pink or mauve, rarely white, with a tube-like calyx and an irregular straight-tubed, hairy corolla. The upper petal is notched and the lower one is larger than the two lateral petals and has three flattened lobes which form a lip. Each flower has four projecting stamens and two fused carpels. The fruit is a dry, four-chambered

schizocarp A schizocarp is a dry fruit that, when mature, splits up into mericarps. There are different definitions: * Any Dry fruits, dry fruit composed of multiple carpels that separate. : Under this definition the mericarps can contain one or more ...

Chemistry

The oils of ''T. serpyllum'' contain thymol,

carvacrol Carvacrol, or cymophenol, C6H3(CH3)(OH)C3H7, is a monoterpene, monoterpenoid phenol. It has a characteristic pungent, warm odor of oregano. Natural occurrence Carvacrol is present in the essential oil of ''Origanum vulgare'' (oregano), oil of t ...

limonene Limonene () is a colorless liquid aliphatic hydrocarbon classified as a cyclic monoterpene, and is the major component in the essential oil of citrus fruit peels. The (+)-isomer, occurring more commonly in nature as the fragrance of oranges, ...

, paracymene, gamma-terpinene and beta-caryophyllene.

Distribution and habitat

Wild thyme is native to the

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The ...

of Europe and Asia. It is a plant of thin soils and can be found growing on sandy-soiled heaths, rocky outcrops, hills, banks, roadsides and riverside sand banks.

Ecology

Wild thyme is one of the plants on which both the common blue butterfly and large blue butterfly larvae feed and it is also attractive to bees.

Cultivation

Creeping and mounding variants of ''T. serpyllum'' are used as border plants and ground cover around gardens and stone paths. It may also be used to replace a bluegrass lawn to xeriscape low to moderate foot traffic areas due to its tolerance for low water and poor soils. Creeping thyme has also been used to "upholster" herb seats, similar to camomile seats, and provide a fragrant surface to sit on. Several cultivars have been produced, of which 'Pink Chintz' has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

. A miniature creeping form is 'Elfin'.

Uses

Wild thyme can be used as a herb much as domestic

thyme Thyme () is a culinary herb consisting of the dried aerial parts of some members of the genus ''Thymus (plant), Thymus'' of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are native to Eurasia and north Africa. Thymes have culinary, medici ...

, with a milder flavor.

Gallery

Image:Thymus serpyllum flowering plants.jpg Image:Thymus serp 1.jpg Image:Базаихский разрез, Thymus serpyllum.jpg Image:Thymus aa1.jpg Image:Thymus serpyllum1.jpg Image:Wilder Thymian.jpg Image:Thymus serpyllum var albus1.jpg, var. albus Image:Thymus serpyllum var albus2.jpg, var. albus File:Creeping red thyme.jpg, ''Thymus serpyllum coccineus'' File:Wild Thyme, Thymus serpyllum.JPG, Wild thyme in the UBC Botanical Garden

Illustrations

Image:Illustration Thymus serpyllum0 clean.jpg Image:Thymus_serpyllum_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-138.jpg Image:Thymus serpyllum Sturm57.jpg Image:Thymus serpyllum backtimjan1.JPG Image:Thymus serpyllum backtimjan2.jpg

References

External links

'A Modern Herbal' (Grieves, 1931)World Checklist
{{Authority control Flora of France Garden plants of Europe Groundcovers Herbs Flora of Denmark Flora of Estonia Flora of Finland Flora of Germany Flora of Latvia Flora of Lithuania Flora of Norway Flora of Russia Flora of the United Kingdom Medicinal plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus serpyllum Subshrubs