﻿less downy, much branched, branches opposite or alternate, com- 

 monly tinged with red. Leaves opposite, oblong-egg-shaped, pe- 

 tiolate, very entire, with hollow dots on both surfaces, and a few 

 long, white hairs at the base. Flowers purple, each on a short 

 stalk (see fig. 7.), forming a small roundish head at the summit of 

 the branches. Calyx (fig, 2.) coloured, striated, the mouth closed 

 with white converging hairs (see fig. 7.). Corolla purplish red, 

 small, upper lip upright ; middle lobe of the lower lip entire. 

 Anthers very minute. Style longer than the corolla, and turning 

 upwards. Seeds very small, brownish. 



This species is subject to considerable variations ; Sir J. E. 

 Smith, in his British Flora, and Dr. Withering, in his Botanical 

 Arrangements, enumerate 9 varieties : viz. 1. The Common Wild 

 Thyme. 2. The white-flowered. 3. The large flowered. 4. The 

 broad-leaved. 5. The Lemon Thyme. 6. The smooth narrow-leaved. 

 7. The hoary-leaved. 8. A more shrubby, hairy variety, with pale 

 red blossoms. And 9. A small, hairy, creeping, scentless variety. 

 Variety 4 was found in Okey-hole, Somersetshire. Var. 5 is fre- 

 quently cultivated in gardens for its peculiarly agreeable odour, and 

 its use for culinary purposes. Bees are fond of the flowers, and as 

 it continues to blossom late, Dr. Withering recommends beds of 

 it to be planted in every Bee garden. Being an accidental variety, 

 it can only be preserved by means of slips or cuttings. It is found 

 wild in Kent ; at Downton-castle, Shropshire ; and near the Nine 

 Wells, by the foot-way to Shelford, Cambridgeshire. Var. 6 is 

 found near Kitt’s Coffee-house, Boxley Hill ; and Var. 7, on Gog- 

 magog Hills, Cambridgeshire ; Bullington Green near Oxford ; and 

 other barren places : this scarcely differs in any thing from the 

 common Thyme, except in its hairiness. Var. 8 is found on some 

 of the Welsh mountains; and Var. 9 in Ireland. In Gray’s Na- 

 tural Arrangement of British Plants, vol. ii. pp. 382 & 383, some 

 of the above varieties are made distinct species. 



Wild Thyme is gratefully fragrant, and yields an essential oil that is very 

 heating. An infusion of the leaves is recommended by Linnxus to remove the 

 head-ache, occasioned by an excess of the preceding evening. It is reputed also 

 to be an almost infallible cure for that troublesome disorder the Incubus, or 

 Night-mare, taken by way of tea. It yields camphor by distillation, and is 

 very grateful and refreshing to those who are afflicted with nervous disorders. — 

 Dr. Armstrong, in his Poem, The Art of Preserving Health, recommends 

 the soil where this plant abounds, as particularly healthful, and the most de- 

 sirable situation for building. 



“ Mark where the dry champaign 



Swells into cheerful hills: where Marjorum 

 And Thyme, the love of bees, perfume the air , 



There bid thy roofs high on the basking steep 

 Ascend, there light thy hospitable fires.” 



Book i. Line 275. 



“ A general opinion prevails that the flesh of sheep, that feed upon aromatic 

 plants, particularly upon Thyme, is much superiorin flavour to common mutton ; 

 but Mr. Bowles, the ingenious author of the account of the sheep-walks in 

 Spain, (Gent. Mag. 1764), considers this as a vulgar error. He says, sheep are 

 not fond of aromatic plants; that they will carefully push aside Thyme to get 

 at the grass growing beneath it ; and that they never touch it, unless when walk- 

 ing apace, and then they will catch at any thing. Branches of Thyme strewed 

 about articles liable to damage from mice, are said to prevent their depredations ; 

 and probably sprinkling the essential oil might prove effectual. ” Wiiiiering. — 

 Cottony galls are sometimes observable on the wild Thyme ; these arc supposed 

 to be the nidus of a species of Tephritis. 



