144 ODOROGEAPHIA. 



a liquid which boils at 236^ C. and has an odour like rose-ivood 

 oil* 



Thyme. 



Wild Thyme, Thymus Serpyllum, Linn. The Thyme genus, of 

 which the well-known Wild Thyme of our banks and dry pastures 

 is a familiar example, belongs to the Labiatse, and is widely 

 distributed over Europe, Nothern Africa and Central Asia, but is 

 must abundant in the Mediterranean region. Between forty and 

 fifty species of it are described, all low, much-branched, spreading 

 or decumbent shrubby herbs, and having small, entire leaves, often 

 with their edges turned in, and dense terminal leafy heads or loose 

 spikes of purple or rarely white flowers. 



T. Seiyillum has procumbent stems and numerous, short, 

 ascending branches, ending in short, loose, leafy, whorled 

 flower - spikes ; the leaves being egg-shaped and narrow, 

 and more or less fringed towards the bottom, those of the 

 flower-spikes being similar but smaller. There are two forms — T. 

 en-Serioillum, with flowering branches ascending from shoots, 

 which are barren at the tip, in one head, and the upper lip of the 

 corolla oblong, and T. Chmiu^drys, in which all the branches 

 ascend from the crown of the rootstock, with whorls in many 

 axillary-heads, and a short and broad upper lip to the corolla. 



Common or Garden Thyme, T. vulgaris, grows more erect 

 than the Wild Thyme, is clothed with hoary down, and has the 

 edges of its leaves turned in; its flower-whorls are in loose terminal 

 heads, or some of the lower ones are remote from the others ; the 

 leaves of the whorls are blunt, while the ordinary ones are sharp- 

 pointed. It is a native of Spain and Italy, in dry, arid, unculti- 

 vated places, and grows largely in the South of France. It is 

 recorded as having been introduced into this country about 

 A.D. 1548. 



Lemon -scented Thyme is a hardy, very dwarf trailing 

 evergeen, possessing the most agreeable perfume of any of its 

 genus, and which has been long cultivated in this country. It is 

 a variety of T. Seiyylliim known as var. citratus or citriodrus. 

 It is very distinct in appearance from the wild form. There is a 



* Ber. Deutch. Chem. Ges., ill., p. 480. 



