wild thyme
Thymus serpyllum
In European folklore, patches of wild thyme were often believed to be the preferred dancing floors of fairies.
- Scientific name
- Thymus serpyllum
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Lamiales › Lamiaceae › Thymus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Dry, sandy, or rocky grasslands, heaths, and coastal dunes with high sun exposure.
- Diet
- Photosynthetic (Autotroph)
- Range
- Europe, Northern Asia, North America (introduced)
- Size
- 2-10 cm tall; spreads into dense mats up to 50 cm in diameter.
- Lifespan
- 3-10 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat fragmentation, agricultural intensification, and the overgrowth of scrubland due to lack of grazing.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and aromatic. Safe to touch; the plant is resilient to light trampling. If foraging for culinary use, ensure the site is free of pesticides and harvest sparingly to allow for regrowth.
Thymus serpyllum , known by the common names of Breckland thyme , Breckland wild thyme , wild thyme , creeping thyme , or elfin 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...
Photo: Michal Honskus, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/062d43cd-4ae3-4b3d-bcf8-8ed8942d7015.md