Thymus serpyllum
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Thymus serpyllum, known by the common names of Breckland thyme,<ref>Schauer, Thomas (1978). A Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe, Collins, London, p. 184. Template:ISBN.</ref> Breckland wild thyme, wild thyme, creeping thyme, or elfin thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is a low, usually prostrate subshrub forming creeping stems up to Template:Convert tall. The oval evergreen leaves are up to 8 mm. The strongly scented flowers 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.
DescriptionEdit
Wild thyme is a creeping dwarf evergreen shrub, growing to Template:Convert tall.<ref name="tfb">Template:Cite book</ref> It has woody stems up to 10 cm long and a taproot. It forms matlike plants that root from the nodes of the squarish, limp stems. The leaves 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.<ref name=NatureGate>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ChemistryEdit
The oils of T. serpyllum contain thymol, carvacrol, limonene, paracymene, gamma-terpinene and beta-caryophyllene.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Distribution and habitatEdit
Wild thyme is native to the Palearctic realm 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.
EcologyEdit
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.<ref name="NatureGate" /><ref>Eva Penn-Smith, Caterpillar food plants (PDF)</ref>
CultivationEdit
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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Creeping thyme has also been used to "upholster" herb seats, similar to camomile seats, and provide a fragrant surface to sit on.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Several cultivars have been produced, of which 'Pink Chintz' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A miniature creeping form is 'Elfin'.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
UsesEdit
Wild thyme can be used as a herb much as domestic thyme, with a milder flavor.<ref name="tfb" />
GalleryEdit
- Thymus serpyllum flowering plants.jpg
- Thymus serp 1.jpg
- Базаихский разрез, Thymus serpyllum.jpg
- Thymus aa1.jpg
- Thymus serpyllum1.jpg
- Wilder Thymian.jpg
- Thymus serpyllum var albus1.jpg
var. albus
- Thymus serpyllum var albus2.jpg
var. albus
- Creeping red thyme.jpg
Thymus serpyllum coccineus
- Wild Thyme, Thymus serpyllum.JPG
Wild thyme in the UBC Botanical Garden
IllustrationsEdit
- Illustration Thymus serpyllum0 clean.jpg
- Thymus serpyllum - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-138.jpg
- Thymus serpyllum Sturm57.jpg
- Thymus serpyllum backtimjan1.JPG
- Thymus serpyllum backtimjan2.jpg