66 Report of Schimmel § Co. 1922. 



contain about 60 per cent, of cineole. We do not know, however, what variety of Thymus 

 plants contain the oils rich in carvacrol. Holmes may be right in saying that Thymus 

 Piperella, L., and Thymus ccespiticius, Hoffm., the popular name of which (pebrella) in- 

 dicates a sharp taste like pepper, belong to the carvacrol group. An oil distilled from 

 the fresh herb of Thymus capitatus, Lk. (from Granada) contained according to our 

 own investigation 6 percent, of thymol and a liquid phenol, perhaps carvacrol 1 ). 



This is about all that has been recorded as to the exact botanical origin of the 

 Spanish thyme oils. On the other hand it is known that more than 30 (Willkomm 2 ) 

 states 39) different kinds of Thymus are spread over the Iberian peninsula. They partly 

 grow in one and the same district, have great similarity and are perhaps* not always 

 differentiated by the gatherers. The thyme plants are gathered above all from the 

 "tomillares" (tomillo = thyme) which are so characteristic for Spain and, with exception 

 of the Northatlantic zone of the peninsula, occur in the central table-land as well as 

 in the coast provinces and the lowlands along the Ebro, in South Aragon, Catalonia, 

 Valencia, lower Andalusia and Algarbia, covering enormous spaces of uncultivated 

 land. These "tomillares" attain their largest dimensions in the table-land, along the 

 Duero, on either side of the central mountain chain and in the East, South and South- 

 West of New Castile. There are thyme, lavender, sage and rosemary heaths, named 

 after the labiate that preponderates. C. Hartwich 3 ) gives a very good description of 

 such a heath: — u On this waste ground of debris the plants grow isolated, though fairly 

 close together, so that the naked soil can be seen everywhere in between. This is 

 the reason why such stretches of land often appear absolutely bare from a distance. 

 The dominating plants, as the name of the steppe indicates already, is a species of 

 thyme (Thymus Zygis. L.). The plant forms round little shrubs, perhaps as large as 

 a fist, sometimes, when a stem grows a little higher, miniature trees, like those we 

 owe to the Japanese art of gardening. They have small, needle-shaped leaves, on 

 which the golden-yellow oil glands can be seen through a magnifying glass, and are 

 covered with tiny red flowers. A stem which I examined at home was nine years old." 



The Thymus species most frequently named and apparently also the most widely 

 distributed in Spain are Thymus vulgaris, L, Thymus Zygis, L. and Thymus Mastichina, L. 

 As E. M. Holmes 4 ) determined, Thymus Zygis differs from the otherwise similar common 

 thyme, as follows: — The bracts are larger than the ordinary leaves, the whirls of 

 whitish flowerets from an uninterrupted spike and no axillary or terminal heads as 

 with Thymus vulgaris. According to Willkomm 5 ) the common thyme is to be found 

 in Navarra, in the plain of Pamplona, along the Duero and the Iberian central mountain 

 chain, in the Nord-West of Guadalajara and in the mountainous regions of Catalonia 

 and Valencia, whereas Thymus Zygis occurs in the North of Old Castile, near Alar 

 del Rey (Palencia) in the upland ol Murcia in New Castile, in the Vega of Granada, 

 in the Sierra Nevada and in the uncultivated coast regions of the provinces of Cadiz 

 and Huelva. — Thymus Mastichina grows on waste ground and by the side of paths 

 and fields in Cantabria, in the slate mountains of Asturia and Leon, in the northern 

 table-land (together with Thymus vulgaris), in the lavender heaths of New Castile along 

 the central mountain chain (together with Thymus Zygis), on sandy soil between Almeria 

 and the Bay of Gibraltar, on the dry calcareous hills round Granada, and in the 

 "tomillares" of the coast zone of Cadiz and Huelva (together with Thymus Zygis). Of 



x ) Bericht October 1889, 56. — 2 ) Engler, Die Vegetation der Erde. Grundzuge der Pflanzenverbreitung 

 oufderiberischenHalbinsel. By R. Willkomm. 1896. — 3 ) Spring holidays in Spain. Apotheker-Ztg. 21 (1906), 

 842. — *) Loo. cit. — B ) Loc. cit. 



