LABIATE FAMILY 



38s 



limestone ; common. The whole plant is fragrant and aromatic, 

 and is frequently cultivated as a pot-herb. Fl. July — September. 

 Perennial. 



4. Thymus (Thyme). — Small, prostrate, wiry, aromatic plants, 

 much branched and often hairy ; leaves small ; -flowers rose-colour, 

 rarely white, in axillary or spiked, few-flowered whorls ; calyx 

 2-lipped, 10— 13-ribbed, the throat hairy; corolla obscurely 

 2-lipped, the upper lip 

 notched, the lower 3- 

 cleft; stamens 4, dis- 

 tant, usually exserted. 

 (Name, the Classical 

 name of the plant.) 



1. T. Serpyllum 

 (Common Thyme). — 

 A well - known and 

 favourite little plant, 

 forming a cushion with 

 a fringe of prostrate, 

 flowerless shoots, 

 which in the next year 

 send up erect flowering 

 shoots from near their 

 bases ; leaves linear, 

 obovate, or spathulate ; 

 flowers with deep red 

 calyx and rose-colour- 

 ed corolla, in short 

 terminal heads. — The 

 commoner form in 

 mountain districts. 

 The whole plant dif- 

 fuses a fragrant, aro- 

 matic perfume, which, 



especially in hot weather, is perceptible at some distance. — Fl. 

 June — August. Perennial. 



2. T. gldber, with longer prostrate flowerless shoots, larger, 

 ovate, glabrous leaves, and longer flower-heads, occurs in sub-alpine 

 situations. 



3. T. ovdtus, a sub-erect form, without runners, with large, 

 ovate leaves and an elongate, often interrupted flower-spike. — 

 Heaths, frequent. 



5. Clinopodium {Ca\3immt).— Flowers either crowded in the 

 cc 



THYMUS SERPYLLUM {Wild Thyme). 



