348 ORD. XIX. Verticiilate. THYMUS VULGARIS. 
THE root is perennial, woody, and subdivided into small fibres: 
the stems are numerous, round, hard, branched, and usually rise 
about a foot in height: the leaves are small, narrow, elliptical, 
and stand in pairs upon very short footstalks: the flowers terminate 
the branches in whorls or round clusters: the calyx is tubular, 
striated, closed at the mouth with small hairs, and divided into 
“two lips; of these the uppermost is cut into three teeth, the 
lowermost into two: the corolla i is monopetalous, consisting of a 
tube, which is about the length of the calyx, and divided at the 
brim into two lips, of a pale purple colour; the wpper lip is erect, 
or turned back, and notched at the end; the under lip is longer, 
expanding, and divided into three segments; of these the middle 
segment is the broadest: the filaments are two long, and two short: 
the antherze small and round: the germen is divided into four 
parts, from the centre of which issues the style, which is thread- 
shaped, and furnished with a bifid stigma: the seeds are four, 
small, roundish, and lodged at the bottom of the calyx. It is a 
native of the South of Europe, and flowers from-May till August. 
According to C. Bauhin, this plant is the @oues of Dioscorides and 
Theophrastus.“ Jt grows wild abundantly in the mountainous 
parts of Italy and Spain; we are therefore the more induced to 
suppose it to be the plant of this name so frequently mentioned 
by the Latin poet.” It-was cultivated by Gerard, and usually finds 
place in our gardens with the other pot-herbs. 
This herb is an agreeable aromatic smell, and a warm pungent 
taste. ‘¢ To water it imparts, by infusion, its aromatic odour, but 
only a weak taste: in distillation, it gives over an essential oil, in 
quantity avout an ounce, from thirty pounds of the herb in flower; 
4  Dioscorid. L. 3. c. 44. Theophrast. 4. hist. 7, & 6. hist, 2. 1. caus. 5. ago re . 
Suze, quod iis qui animi dcliquium patiuntur adhibeatur: alii ao ens Supaoees xa rns 
Suns deducunt, quod hoc veteres in sacris, que igne accenso fiebant, eg usi 
sint, ut apud Rhodiginum, L. 3. c. 23. legere est.” 
> ¢ Nerine Galatea, thymo mihi dulcior Wyble’ Both this species and the Ser. 
pyllum are probably alluded tg; they are equally fragrant, and coveted by bees, 
