Garden thyme

Thymus vulgaris (common thyme, garden thyme) is a woody evergreen subshrub in the mint family (Lamiaceae), typically reaching 15–30 cm in height with a spreading habit up to about 40 cm wide. The much-branched stems become woody at the base and bear small, opposite, highly aromatic grey-green leaves with revolute margins. From late spring into early summer the plant produces dense terminal clusters of small two-lipped flowers in shades of pale purple to pink, attractive to bees and other pollinators. The fruit is a tiny dry schizocarp splitting into four nutlets. Native to the western Mediterranean region of southern Europe and extending into southern Italy, T. vulgaris thrives on dry, stony, well-drained calcareous soils in full sun and is widely cultivated worldwide as a culinary herb, medicinal plant, ornamental groundcover, and source of essential oil rich in thymol and carvacrol.