Spanish thyme
Thymus zygis
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The thyme that seasons half the Peninsula, and the world's main source of thymol. It smells like the thyme in the kitchen jar, unlike mastic thyme, which smells of eucalyptus.
Scrubland · Uplands · Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asSpanish sauce thyme
How to tell it
A low woody cushion with tiny narrow leaves, rolled at the margins, with white hairs at the base. White or pinkish flowers in an elongated spike, not a ball. The classic thyme smell.
What it is confused with
Mastic thyme
Thymus mastichina
The flower decides: mastic thyme makes a white ball on top, Spanish thyme an elongated spike. And the smell: eucalyptus versus kitchen thyme. Both edible.
What it is for
Seasoning for olives, meats and broths across the Peninsula, and an industrial source of thymol for antiseptics. Gathered in flower and dried in the shade.
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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