Thymus serpyllum

This article is about a species of thyme plant. For a discussion of culinary and medicinal uses of thyme, see Thyme.

"Creeping Thyme" and "Wild Thyme" redirect here. In some places, these names refer to Thymus praecox.

Thymus serpyllum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae
Genus:	Thymus
Species:	T. serpyllum
Binomial name
Thymus serpyllum L.

Thymus serpyllum, known by the common names of Breckland thyme, wild thyme or creeping thyme, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to most of Europe and North Africa. It is a low, usually prostrate subshrub growing to 2 cm (1 in) tall with creeping stems up to 10 cm (4 in) long. The oval evergreen leaves are 3–8 mm long. The strongly scented flowers are either lilac, pink-purple, magenta, or a rare white, all 4–6 mm long and produced in clusters. The hardy plant tolerates some pedestrian traffic and produces odors ranging from heavily herbal to lightly lemon, depending on the plant.

Cultivation

Creeping and mounding variants of T. serpyllum are used as border plants and ground cover around gardens and stone paths. It may also be used to replace a bluegrass lawn to xeriscape low to moderate foot traffic areas due to its tolerance for low water and poor soils.

Numerous cultivars have been produced, of which 'Pink Chintz' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Other Uses

For culinary and medicinal uses, see the main article on Thyme.

Gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

  var. albus

• 

  var. albus

Illustrations

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

External links

• 'A Modern Herbal' (Grieves, 1931)