THYMUS. 



Oowiiy, reddifh, fiightly branched, fpreading on the ground 

 before flowering, then afcending. Leaves three-quarters of an 

 inch long, numerous, crowded, fpreading, very min\itely and 

 denfely downy, copioufly dotted ; ribbed and rather paler be- 

 neath ; tapering into a (hort, broad, dov/ny footjlali, coarfely 

 fringed like the bafe of the leaf itfelf. Flowers in leafy 

 heads, often with an axillary whorl below. Calyx clothed 

 with recurved hairs ; ail its teeth tapering and parallel, 

 Itrongly fringed. Corolla white, with red dots on the pa- 

 late. Anthers reddilh, promnient. Pi-ofelFor Sibthorp 

 adopted the opinion of the old authors, that this might 

 perhaps be the f^Tjri/Xi; l^vyt; of Diofcorides. Its appellation 

 in modern Greek is a-i^d^i, which, if we miftake not, means 

 " the delight of bees." 



10. Th. Acinos. Bafil Thyme. Linn. Sp. PI. 826. 

 Willd. n. 10. Fl. Brit. n. 2. Engl. Bot. t. 411. Curt. 

 Lond. fafc. I. t. 43. (Acinos; Rivin. Monop. Irr. t. 43. 

 f. 2. Ocymum fylveftre ; Ger. Em. 675.) — Flowers on 

 fimple footftalks, about fix in a whorl. Stem herbaceous, 

 afcending, branched. Leaves acute, ferrated. Calyx gib- 

 bous at the' bafe. Native of dry gravelly or chalky pafr 

 tures, fallow fields, &c. throughout Europe, nor rare in 

 England, flowering from July to September. The root is 

 annual, of a few flender fibres. Stems clothed with re- 

 curved hairs, reddifli, lax and fpreading, hardly a fpan long ; 

 their flowery ultimate branches ereft. Leaves on (hort foot- 

 ftalks, fmall, ovate, varying to roundifh or oblong, but al- 

 ways acute, more or lefs deeply and copioufly ferrated, rarely 

 quite entire, veiny, hairy ; the upper ones tapering much at 

 the bafe. Flowers light violet ; their palate white, with 

 dark purple fpots. Stamens fliort. Calyx deeply furrowed, 

 hairy, fringed, fwelling underneath, as is the cafe, more or 

 lefs, with all the fpecies to which this is allied. The herb 

 is rather flightly aromatic, not pungently fo. 



11. Th./ua-veolens, Penny-royal-fcented Thyme. Prodr. 

 Fl. Grasc. n. 1400. (Clinopodium minus anguftifolium, 

 pulegii odore, romanum ; Bocc. Muf. v. I. 50 — 54. t. 45, 

 A. ) — Flowers whorled. Leaves lanceolate -elliptical, 

 pointed, fomewhat ferrated, hairy. Stems flirubby. — Na- 

 tive of Italy and Greece. The Jlem is a foot high, bufliy ; 

 the branches leafy, rough, with recurved hairs. Leaves 

 with xheWJlalis about an inch long, rigid, ribbed, briftly, 

 often quite entire. Flowers fix or eight in a whorl, on fimple 

 ilalks. Calyx like the laft, but longer and more flender. 

 The whole plant fmells powerfully of Penny-royal, even 

 after having been dried thirty years. On this fubjeft Boc- 

 cone has treated us with a long difquifition, quite in the 

 Itahan ftyle, in which the faflis are better than the philofo- 

 phy, though fome of thofe want confirmation. He attri- 

 butes the above fcent to particles of fulphur and bitumen 

 communicated by the foil. 



12. Th. patavinus. Marjoram-leaved Thyme. Jacq. 

 Obf. fafc. 4. 7. t. 87. Willd. n. 11. Ait. n. 5. (Clino- 

 podium perenne, pulegii odore, majorans folio, patavinum ; 

 Bocc. Muf. V. 1. 60. t. 45, B.) — Flowers whorled. Leaves 

 ovate, with copious fliallow ferratures, flightly hairy. 

 Stems flirubby. — Native probably of the fouth of Europe, 

 though no botanift who has defcribed this fpecies feems to 

 have known it but from gardens. Hence even its name ori- 

 ginated, which is therefore liable to great exception. Will- 

 denow appears to have feen no fpecimen. The fpecific cha- 

 rafter taken by him from the firft edition of Hort. Kew. of 

 " the inflated throat of the corolla, extending beyond the 

 calyx," is not in the lealt degree peculiar. Neverthelefs, au- 

 thentic fpecimens of the plant prove it di^linft from the fore- 

 going and the following, in the broad-ovate, almofl. heart- 

 ihapcd, figure of the rather flcfliy leaves, their even furfa(;e, 



and numerous,^ minute, fliallow ferratures. They much rc- 

 femble fome kinds of Ocymum, and like thofe are fometimes 

 concave. 



13. Th. alpinus. Alpine Thyme. Linn. Sp. PI. 826. 

 Willd. n. 12. Ait. n. 6. Jacq. Aufl^r. t. 97. (Chnopo- 

 dium montanum ; Bauh. Pin. 225. Bocc. Muf. v. i. 

 t. 45, C. C. aullriacuni ; Cluf. Pann. 622, 623. Hilt. 

 V. 1.353. ^^'■- Em. 676.) — Flowers on fimple footftalks, 

 about fix in a whorl. Stem herbaceous, afcending, branched 

 at the bottom. Leaves ovate or ronndifli, bluntifh, coarfely 

 ferrated. Calyx gibbous at the bafe. — Native of the lofty 

 mountains of Auftria, Switzerland, Italy, and Crete, as 

 well as of the Bithynian Olympus. Nothing is more dif- 

 ficult than to define the difference between this and our 

 Th. Acinos, except that the alpinus is in every part larger 

 and more handfome, with a ftrong refinous fcent. The root 

 is either biennial, or perennial, we are not certain which. 

 The leaves are too entire in the cut of Clufius and Gerarde. 



14. Th. exiguus. Small Cyprian Thyme. Sm. Prodr. 

 Fl. Grxc. Sibth. n. 1402. Fl. Grasc. t. 575, unpubhlhed. 

 — Flowers very few in a whorl. Leaves rhomboid, pointed, 

 obhque, nearly entire. Stems branched at the bafe. Tube 

 of the corolla thread-ftiaped. — Difcovered by Dr. Sibthorp 

 in hilly fituations in the ille of Cyprus. The root is annual, 

 fimple, fibrous. Stem two or three inches high, ereft, with 

 fimple leafy hairy branches from the bottom. Leaves one- 

 third of an inch long, fmoothifli, on long hairy ftalks. 

 Flowers either two or four in each whorl, on thick ftalks. 

 Calyx flender, furrowed, hairy. Corolla with a very flender 

 white tube, enclofing the Jlamens, and (hort, rounded, pale- 

 purple fegments in the limb. 



15. Th. pulegioiJes. Penny-royal-leaved Thyme. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. ed. I. 592. Sm. Prodr. Fl. Graec. Sibth. n. 1307. 

 (Cunila thymoides ; Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 2. 31. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. v. I. 123. Acinos thymi folio annuus, floribus inex- 

 panfis ; Morif. feft. 1 1 . 1. 1 9. f. 6. ) — Whorls many-flowered, 

 crowded into long, denfe leafy fpikes. Leaves ovate, ob- 

 tufe, entire. Stem herbaceous, branched, with four hairy 

 angles. — Native of the fouth of France, and of hills in 



Greece Root fibrous, marked as annual by Linnseus, but 



the ftems have a (hrubby appearance. They are a fpan 

 high, with oppofite branches, leafy, their angles denfely 

 clothed with recurved hairs. Leaves ftalked, from a 

 quarter to half an inch long, deflexed, dotted, fmooth, ex- 

 cept a few occafional coarle marginal hairs. Flowers on 

 longilh, cylindrical, denfely downy ftalks, ten or twelve in 

 each whorl. Calyx ftrongly furrowed, hairy, with a broad 

 upper lip, and two long, narrow, fringed teeth in the lower 

 one ; the orifice denfely hairy. Corolla fmall ; its limb 

 feems to refemble the laft-defcribed. Sometimes the Jlem is 

 clothed with whorls oi Jlowers almoft from the bottom to 

 the top, and the upper leaves are larger than the lower. 

 The odour of the plant is that of Thyme, not of Penny- 

 royal. 



16. Th. graveolens. Strong-fcented Greek Thyme. Sm. 

 Prodr. Fl. Grxc. Sibth. n. J403. Fl. Grasc. t. 576, un- 



pubhflted Whorls barely fix-flowered. Leaves ovate, 



rhomboid, obtufe, revolute, fomewhat ferrated. Stems 



much branched, flirubby Gathered on mount Parnaffus, 



by Dr. Sibthorp, who fufpefted it might be the Tpstycpiyaw; 

 of Diofcorides, and from whofe manufcripts we have adopted 

 the fpecific name. The ftrong, woody, branching root 

 bears a tuft of numerous afcending, branched, leafy, reddifh, 

 downy Jlems, about fix inches high. Leaves dark green, 

 paler beneath, fmooth, a quarter of an inch long, on foot- 



Jlalks of nearly their own length. Flo-wers on fimple ftalks, 

 with a pair of fmall oval braSeas at the bafe of each ftalk, 



ufually 



