TH Y 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



THY 



673 



Hoary Garden Thyme. Miller treats of the two former, as 

 distinct species. The narrow-leaved has shorter stalks, longer 

 and narrower leaves, ending in sharper points, with the entire 

 plant hoary ; the flowers growing in long whorled spikes, and 

 larger than those of the common sort. Tournefort describes 

 two other varieties ; one very hoary, the other with the heads 

 much smaller. This herh has an agreeable aromatic smell, 

 and a warm pungent taste. Bergius observes, its qualities 

 are resolvent, emmenagogue, diuretic, tonic, and stomachic; 

 its aromatic qualities indicate, that it may be useful in those 

 complaints in which Lavender, Sage, Rosemary, and other 

 verticillatae, are employed. It yields a species of Camphor 

 in distillation with water. For many ages it has been culti- 

 vated in Great Britain, especially before the introduction of 

 Oriental Spices, when it and other aromatic herbs were much 

 used in cookery ; the Spaniards still infuse it in the pickle 

 with which they preserve their Olives. Found on stony hills 

 in Spain, Portugal, the south of France, Greece, and the 

 Archipelago. It is propagated in the same way as the first 

 species. 



5. Thymus Lanceolatns ; Lance-leaved Thyme. Flowers 

 whorl-spiked; stem surlruticose, erect; leaves oblong, flat, 

 pubescent ; bractes lanceolate, longer than the flower, quite 

 entire; corolla purple, glandular, longer than the calix, the 

 same size as in the preceding species. Native of Mount 

 Atlas about Tlemsen, flowering in the spring. 



6. Thymus Numidicus ; Barbary Thyme. Flowers in 

 heads; calices hirsute ; bractes ovate-lanceolate, ciliate; stem 

 fruticulose, erect ; leaves linear, patulous, smooth. This is 

 a branching shrub, four inches high : branches slender, erect, 

 pubescent at the upper part; corolla small, rose-coloured. 

 Native of Barbary, near La Calle. 



7. Thymus Zygis ; Linear-leaved Thyme. Flowers whorl- 

 spiked ; stem suffruticose, erect; leaves linear, very blunt, 

 nerveless, rolled back at the edge, ciliate at the base ; branches 

 many, recurved before flowering; corolla white. It varies 

 with hairy leaves, and has the appearance of Common Garden 

 Thyme. It flowers in August. Native of Spain. This, and 

 the 16th, 17th, 19th, and 20th species, may be increased by 

 slips planted in April on an eastern border, and closely 

 covered with a bell or hand class, refreshing them moderately 

 twice a week with water. When they have put out good roots, 

 transplant some into pots, to be sheltered under a frame in 

 winter, and plant the rest on a warm border of dry ground, 

 observing to shade and water them until they have taken. new 

 root: in severe frost the latter will generally be destroyed. 

 They may also be propagated by seeds, sown on a bed of 

 light earth, in the same way as Common Marjoram. Most 

 of the other species may be increased by slips or parting the 

 roots, or by seed sown in the spring. They delight in dry 

 iindunged ground, where some of them will increase by trail- 

 ing their stalks. 



8. Thymus Marschallianus; Marshall's Thyme. Flowers 

 whorl-spiked; stem suffruticose, erect; leaves linear-lanceo- 

 late, bluntish, flat, obscurely triple-nerved, ciliate at tlie'base; 

 upper floral-leaves like those of the stem, but shorter, and 

 three-nerved ; calices rough-haired, striated ; corollas longer 

 than the calix. It varies with leaves narrower by half, and is 

 not like the preceding even in its habit. Found in Tauria. 



9. Thymus Inodorus; Scentless Thyme. Stem shrubby, 

 very much branched ; leaves needle-form, bundled, shorter 

 than the flower. This is a very branching upright shrub; 

 branches approximating ; bark on the older branches cloven; 

 flowers in whorls, axillary, pedicelled, longer than the leaf, 

 numerous; corolla purple, longer than the calix. Native of 

 J barren hills near Algiers. 





10. Thymus Acinus ; Basil Thyme. Whorls six-flowered; 

 peduncles simple; stem herbaceous, ascending, branched; 

 leaves acute, serrate; calix gibbous at the base. Root an- 

 nual, simple, fibrous ; each flower on a pedicel, various in 

 length; calix swelling at the base, on the lower side deeply 

 grooved, the prominent ribs fringed with bristly hairs ; upper 

 lip erect, with three broadish nearly equal segments, lower 

 projecting into two narrow sharp ones ; mouth fringed with 

 white hairs, which, pointing inwards, completely close it when 

 the corolla is fallen ; corolla purple ; tube dilated upwards ; 

 upper lip shorter, blunt, turned back, slightly notched ; lower 

 of three roundish segments, the middle one longer, obcor- 

 date, marked at the base with a raised white semilunar spot, 

 and a spot or two of darker purple. This species has a 

 pleasant aromatic smell, but not so strong as that of the first 

 species, to which indeed it bears little resemblance, being 

 much like the twelfth species; the flowers of which are how- 

 ever nearly twice as large, and the swelling at the base of 

 the calix is not so considerable. Native of Europe, in dry 

 hilly fields, especially in a calcareous soil, flowering in July 

 and August. It occurs about Charlton, Dartford, and other 

 parts of Kent; not unfrequently in Surry and Norfolk; on 

 Gogmagog hills, and Newmarket heath, in Cambridgeshire; 

 on Barton hill, and near Aspley, in Bedfordshire ; at Head- 

 ington wick, Stonesfield, and South Leigh in Oxfordshire; 

 on St. Vincent's rocks, near Bristol ; and in Yorkshire. 



11. Thymus Patavinus; Great-Jiowered Thyme. Flowers 

 in whorls ; throat inflated, longer than the calix ; leaves 

 ovate, serrate; stems suffruticose, many in number, arising 

 from a perennial fibrous root, from a palm to a foot in height, 

 ascending, pubescent, branched ; corolla pale red. Will- 

 denow observes, that it seems to be very nearly allied to the 

 next species. It flowers here from June to August, and is 

 supposed to be a native of the south of Europe and Hungary : 

 it was found by Desfontaines near Mascar in Barbary. 



12. Thymus Alpinus ; AlpineThyme. Whorls six-flowered ; 

 leaves roundish, bluntish, concave, serrate; corollas inflated. 

 This is nearly allied to the tenth species: Villars says, it dif- 

 fers from it in having larger, greener, and less hard leaves; 

 stems lower and less branched ; flowers twice as large, with 

 the calix coloured, not gibbous. The same author adds, that 

 it has an aromatic odour, with an agreeable acid approaching 

 to that of lemon, in which, as well as in its character, it 

 approaches nearer to the Calamints and Melissa than to Ser- 

 pyllum. Accordingly Scopoli has united them, and Dr. 

 Smith has united the Calamints to this genus. It flowers 

 from June to September. Native of the south of France, 

 Austria, Italy, &c. 



13. Thymus Montana; Mountain Thyme. Flowers in 

 whorls; peduncles one-flowered; stem erect, branched; leaves 

 ovate, quite entire; calices smooth. Allioni says, this con- 

 stantly preserved its hairiness, the size of its leaves, and its 

 peculiar habit, for many years under cultivation. Native of 

 the Carpathian mountains, the Valais, &c. 



14. Thymus Piperella; Pepper Thyme. Peduncles many- 

 flowered, lateral ; leaves ovate, obtuse, smooth, nerved, quite 

 entire. Stem almost decumbent, round, simple, or little 

 branched, the first branches opposite, the rest alternate. The 

 stems and branchlets begin to flower about the middle: from 

 each axil issues a short peduncle, supporting three or five 

 flowers, the two lower of which flower later, the middle one 

 earlier; without any bractes, and on a longer peduncle; corolla 

 purple; tube twice as long as the calix ; upper lip erect, cor- 

 date, roundly emarginate; lower trifid, the lateral segments 

 ovate, the middle one wider, emarginate. Vahl remarks, 

 that he has observed numerous individuals of this species in 



