Thyme
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Gifts
of Mother Nature |
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Thyme (Thymus) (pronounced
"time") is a genus of about 350 species of aromatic perennial
herbaceous plants and sub-shrubs to 40 cm tall, in the family Lamiaceae
and native to Europe, North Africa and Asia. A number of species
have different chemotypes. The stems tend to be narrow or even wiry;
the leaves are evergreen in most species, arranged in opposite pairs,
oval, entire, and small, 4-20 mm long. The flowers are in dense
terminal heads, with an uneven calyx, with the upper lip three-lobed,
and the lower cleft; the corolla is tubular, 4-10 mm long, and white,
pink or purple.
Thymus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera insect species including Chionodes distinctella and the Coleophora case-bearers C. lixella, C. niveicostella, C. serpylletorum and C. struella (the latter three feed exclusively on Thymus). |
