Common thyme
Thymus vulgaris
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
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Europe's kitchen thyme, growing wild on the limestone of eastern Spain. In Portugal it is mostly found escaped from gardens, and is the easiest to recognise by smell because everyone already has it at home.
Scrubland · Walls and rocks · Uplands
Also known asgarden thyme
How to tell it
A small, densely branched cushion with tiny grey-green leaves, rolled margins and a white underside. Pink-lilac flowers in short clusters at the tips.
What it is confused with
Spanish thyme
Thymus zygis
Very similar and both good for the same things. Spanish thyme has a narrower leaf with white basal hairs; common thyme is more compact. The mistake has no consequence.
What it is for
A universal seasoning and infusion plant. It is the species most dried thyme sold in shops comes from.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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