Thymus serpylloides

Thymus serpylloides is a low, mat-forming aromatic subshrub of the mint family (Lamiaceae), endemic to the Iberian Peninsula. It forms dense, woody-based cushions or carpets with slender, creeping or ascending stems bearing small, opposite, linear to narrowly elliptic leaves that are strongly scented from the volatile oils held in their glandular dots. The pink to purplish, two-lipped flowers are clustered into compact terminal heads and are attractive to bees and other pollinators. Like other wild thymes, the plant is rich in the phenolic monoterpenes thymol and carvacrol, which give it its pungent, thyme-like aroma. It grows in dry, sunny, often rocky or stony habitats, on mountain slopes, garrigue and open scrub of the Spanish sierras, typically on calcareous or siliceous soils. The species is one of numerous closely related Iberian thymes used locally as culinary seasoning and as the basis of aromatic herbal teas.