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Thymes (Thymus)
Thymes consist of mostly evergreen upright or creeping plants and subshrubs in the mint family. These compact species produce flowers in shades of pinks, whites, and purples, making them attractive groundcover. Most species are very fragrant, producing sweet and earthy aromas, especially when their leaves are crushed. These aromas are the reason why thymes are such popular herbs in various cuisines around the world.
Lifespan
Perennial
Plant Type
Shrub
Key Facts About Thymes
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Attributes of Thymes
Leaf type
Evergreen
Ideal Temperature
5 - 35 ℃
Scientific Classification of Thymes
Distribution of Thymes
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Distribution Map of Thymes
Native
Cultivated
Invasive
Potentially invasive
Exotic
No species reported
How to Grow and Care for Thymes
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Thymes encompasses herbaceous plants that typically require full sun and well-draining soil. Basic care involves regular watering with good drought tolerance once established, and thrives in temperate conditions, avoiding prolonged moisture to prevent root rot. Common challenges are few, with some susceptibility to fungal diseases and pests like aphids. Seasonal considerations include light pruning after flowering in spring, less water in winter, and protection from extreme cold to ensure perennial health.
Exploring the Thymes Plants
Feedback
8 most common species：
Garden thyme
While best known for culinary purposes, garden thyme has historically seen use in embalming rituals and as incense. In the kitchen, it most often ends up as a flavoring herb or brewed in tea. Garden thyme was gifted to warriors in the Middle Ages because it was supposed to spur courage and energy.
Creeping thyme
Creeping thyme is a perennial native to Northern Europe, Western Asia, and northern Africa. Its pink to purple bell-shaped flowers and blue-green leaves make it a popular ornamental plant. Because of its pleasant fragrance, it is also used in the production of perfumes. Throughout the Middle Ages, Thymus serpyllum was seen as an emblem of courage and strength.
Mother of thyme
Mother of thyme, or Creeping Thyme, is a flowering lawn substitute. It grows in low, dense mats and is hardy and deer resistant. This flowering herb is edible, like other species of Thyme, and has a mild, mint-like flavor. It grows easily and can be started by seed or division.
Lemon thyme
The lemon thyme (Thymus pulegioides) is widely distributed across Europe and northeastern North America. This small, bush-forming Thymus pulegioides is distinguished by its pleasant lemony smell. It can be found in meadows, sunny hillsides, rocky terrain, and along roads, and it is often cultivated in rock gardens. The lemon thyme is a well-known aromatic herb used for making flavored tea.
Five-ribbed thyme
The stem is thin, crawls the ground, and branches well. The branches have short hairs, standing up to a height of 3 to 15 cm. Leaves grow against the stem. The leaf blades are oval to narrow, with a blunt tip, a length of 5 to 10 mm, a width of 3 to 6 mm, and a full edge. There is fragrance throughout. Put a short flower spike at the tip of the branch. The corolla has a crimson-colored lip shape, with the upper lip slightly split and standing upright, and the lower lip is split and opened. The spider has a cylindrical bell-shaped lip shape. There are four stamens. The fruit becomes fruit and becomes slightly flat.
Thyme
Thyme (Thymus mongolicus) is a perennial herb whose evergreen foliage has a pleasant scent and is frequently used in cooking. Tiny, purple flowers bloom in clusters and cover the plant in summer. It is a food source for a variety of butterflies and moths.
Lemon thyme
Lemon thyme is a perennial cultivated mainly for its rich, lemon-scented foliage. It is utilized as a culinary herb. The small, oval deep green foliage has a distinct lemon fragrance and is used as a flavor in salads, soups, and meat and fish cuisines. Its fresh twigs can be utilized as a garnish. Its clusters of small lavender flowers entice bees and butterflies.
Wild thyme
Wild thyme, is a popular herb used in Mediterranean cuisine for its strong, minty flavor. Its low-growing habit makes it an ideal groundcover for rock gardens or between stepping stones.
All Species of Thymes
Garden thyme
Garden thyme
While best known for culinary purposes, garden thyme has historically seen use in embalming rituals and as incense. In the kitchen, it most often ends up as a flavoring herb or brewed in tea. Garden thyme was gifted to warriors in the Middle Ages because it was supposed to spur courage and energy.
Creeping thyme
Creeping thyme
Creeping thyme is a perennial native to Northern Europe, Western Asia, and northern Africa. Its pink to purple bell-shaped flowers and blue-green leaves make it a popular ornamental plant. Because of its pleasant fragrance, it is also used in the production of perfumes. Throughout the Middle Ages, Thymus serpyllum was seen as an emblem of courage and strength.
Mother of thyme
Mother of thyme
Mother of thyme, or Creeping Thyme, is a flowering lawn substitute. It grows in low, dense mats and is hardy and deer resistant. This flowering herb is edible, like other species of Thyme, and has a mild, mint-like flavor. It grows easily and can be started by seed or division.
Lemon thyme
Lemon thyme
The lemon thyme (Thymus pulegioides) is widely distributed across Europe and northeastern North America. This small, bush-forming Thymus pulegioides is distinguished by its pleasant lemony smell. It can be found in meadows, sunny hillsides, rocky terrain, and along roads, and it is often cultivated in rock gardens. The lemon thyme is a well-known aromatic herb used for making flavored tea.
Five-ribbed thyme
Five-ribbed thyme
The stem is thin, crawls the ground, and branches well. The branches have short hairs, standing up to a height of 3 to 15 cm. Leaves grow against the stem. The leaf blades are oval to narrow, with a blunt tip, a length of 5 to 10 mm, a width of 3 to 6 mm, and a full edge. There is fragrance throughout. Put a short flower spike at the tip of the branch. The corolla has a crimson-colored lip shape, with the upper lip slightly split and standing upright, and the lower lip is split and opened. The spider has a cylindrical bell-shaped lip shape. There are four stamens. The fruit becomes fruit and becomes slightly flat.
Thyme
Thyme
Thyme (Thymus mongolicus) is a perennial herb whose evergreen foliage has a pleasant scent and is frequently used in cooking. Tiny, purple flowers bloom in clusters and cover the plant in summer. It is a food source for a variety of butterflies and moths.
Lemon thyme
Lemon thyme
Lemon thyme is a perennial cultivated mainly for its rich, lemon-scented foliage. It is utilized as a culinary herb. The small, oval deep green foliage has a distinct lemon fragrance and is used as a flavor in salads, soups, and meat and fish cuisines. Its fresh twigs can be utilized as a garnish. Its clusters of small lavender flowers entice bees and butterflies.
Wild thyme
Wild thyme
Wild thyme, is a popular herb used in Mediterranean cuisine for its strong, minty flavor. Its low-growing habit makes it an ideal groundcover for rock gardens or between stepping stones.
Lemon thyme
Lemon thyme
Broad-leaved thyme is a creeping dwarf evergreen shrub with woody stems and a taproot. It is rather similar to wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) but it is larger, the leaves are wider and all the stems form flowering shoots. The reddish stems are squarish in cross-section and have hairs on the edges.
Thymes 'Silver Queen'
Thymes 'Silver Queen'
Thymes 'Silver Queen' is a variegated perennial herb known for its fragrant, lemon-scented leaves edged in creamy white. The plant produces small, lavender-pink flowers in summer, attracting pollinators. Preferring well-drained soil and full sun to partial shade, thymes 'Silver Queen' thrives in rock gardens or as a border and provides culinary use with its aromatic foliage.
Creeping thyme 'Pink Chintz'
Creeping thyme 'Pink Chintz'
Creeping thyme 'Pink Chintz' is a cultivar of thyme that grows only 5 cm high but spreads out extensively into wide beds that bloom with bright pink flowers (in contrast to its parent's white flowers). The cultivar is named for this bright coloration, which resembles a richly patterned chintz fabric that originated in Golconda in the 16th century. It is a popular bedding plant.
Thymus linearis
Thymus linearis
Thymus linearis is a hardy perennial herb with narrow, elongated leaves that emanate a distinct, aromatic fragrance. This small shrub prefers well-drained soils in sunny locales, often found thriving in rocky, Mediterranean regions. Its slender stems give rise to delicate pink to purple flowers that are favored by pollinators, playing a role in local ecosystems. Its foliage, frequently used in culinary dishes, exhibits remarkable resilience against drought, embodying the robust spirit of its native landscape.
Garden thyme 'Silver Posie'
Garden thyme 'Silver Posie'
Garden thyme 'Silver Posie' is a variety of Garden thyme with gray-green leaves with dramatic and pronounced silvery-white margins. This white margin is much thicker than that of its parent plant and from a distance, Silver Posie appears to be silver-colored, explaining its name.
Lemon thyme 'Doone Valley'
Lemon thyme 'Doone Valley'
Lemon thyme 'Doone Valley' is a lemon thyme cultivar with tiny dark green leaves that contain unique and random splashes of yellow. Not all varieties of lemon thyme have yellow in their leaves, but when they do the yellow is usually more ordered and less random. The foliage is more fragrant than the parent plant and other varieties and has an intense lemon aroma. This cultivar is named after Doone Valley in the United Kingdom, though it is unclear why.
Creeping thyme 'Magic Carpet'
Creeping thyme 'Magic Carpet'
Its parent plant, thyme, has white flowers, but creeping thyme 'Magic Carpet' is a cultivar that produces brightly-colored flowers ranging in hue from a bold pink to a deep magenta. Known as "creeping thyme" because it spreads out in a tight and compact carpet-like mat, this plant is a gardener's favorite for walkways, rock gardens, and path edges.
Garden thyme 'Silver Queen'
Garden thyme 'Silver Queen'
Garden thyme 'Silver Queen' is distinctive because of its attractive two-colored leaf pattern with light green centers fringed by the silvery-white borders for which it is named. This alpine perennial herb is famed for its delicate aroma, and also prized for its summer-flowering pink blossoms.
Mother of thyme 'Coccineus'
Mother of thyme 'Coccineus'
Though this plant shares a name with the closely related thyme plant, the mother of thyme 'Coccineus' is not edible. A creeper, it has finer foliage and is red in color, which is how it differs from the other varieties of this plant. This cultivar of the Mother of thyme also needs more water than other varieties.
More Popular Genus
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Dracaena
Dracaena are popular house plants that are easy to grow. They can tolerate low-light conditions and require little watering. Their leaves range from variegated to dark green. Their characteristic traits include woody stems that grow slowly but offer a striking appearance for small spaces such as apartments or offices.
Fig trees
Fig trees have been cultivated in many regions for their fruits, particularly the common fig, F. carica. Most of the species have edible fruits, although the common fig is the only one of commercial value. Fig trees are also important food sources for wildlife in the tropics, including monkeys, bats, and insects.
Brambles
Brambles are members of the rose family, and there are hundreds of different types to be found throughout the European countryside. They have been culturally significant for centuries; Christian folklore stories hold that when the devil was thrown from heaven, he landed on a bramble bush. Their vigorous growth habit can tangle into native plants and take over.
Maples
The popular tree family known as maples change the color of their leaves in the fall. Many cultural traditions encourage people to watch the colors change, such as momijigari in Japan. Maples popular options for bonsai art. Alternately, their sap is used to create maple syrup.
Prunus
Prunus is a genus of flowering fruit trees that includes almonds, cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, and apricots. These are often known as "stone fruits" because their pits are large seeds or "stones." When prunus trees are damaged, they exhibit "gummosis," a condition in which the tree's gum (similar to sap) is secreted to the bark to help heal external wounds.
Nightshades
Nightshades is a large and diverse genus of plants, with more than 1500 different types worldwide. This genus incorporates both important staple food crops like tomato, potato, and eggplant, but also dangerous poisonous plants from the nightshade family. The name was coined by Pliny the Elder almost two thousand years ago.
Roses
Most species of roses are shrubs or climbing plants that have showy flowers and sharp thorns. They are commonly cultivated for cut flowers or as ornamental plants in gardens due to their attractive appearance, pleasant fragrance, and cultural significance in many countries. The rose hips (fruits) can also be used in jams and teas.
Oaks
Oaks are among the world's longest-lived trees, sometimes growing for over 1,000 years! The oldest known oak tree is in the southern United States and is over 1,500 years old. Oaks produce an exceedingly popular type of wood which is used to make different products, from furniture and flooring to wine barrels and even cosmetic creams.
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About
Key Facts
Distribution
How To Care
All Species
More Genus
Thymes
Thymus
Thymes consist of mostly evergreen upright or creeping plants and subshrubs in the mint family. These compact species produce flowers in shades of pinks, whites, and purples, making them attractive groundcover. Most species are very fragrant, producing sweet and earthy aromas, especially when their leaves are crushed. These aromas are the reason why thymes are such popular herbs in various cuisines around the world.
Lifespan
Perennial
Plant Type
Shrub
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Key Facts About Thymes
Feedback
Attributes of Thymes
Leaf type
Evergreen
Ideal Temperature
5 - 35 ℃
Scientific Classification of Thymes
Distribution of Thymes
Feedback
Distribution Map of Thymes
Native
Cultivated
Invasive
Potentially invasive
Exotic
No species reported
How to Grow and Care for Thymes
Feedback
Thymes encompasses herbaceous plants that typically require full sun and well-draining soil. Basic care involves regular watering with good drought tolerance once established, and thrives in temperate conditions, avoiding prolonged moisture to prevent root rot. Common challenges are few, with some susceptibility to fungal diseases and pests like aphids. Seasonal considerations include light pruning after flowering in spring, less water in winter, and protection from extreme cold to ensure perennial health.
Exploring the Thymes Plants
Feedback
8 most common species：
Garden thyme
While best known for culinary purposes, garden thyme has historically seen use in embalming rituals and as incense. In the kitchen, it most often ends up as a flavoring herb or brewed in tea. Garden thyme was gifted to warriors in the Middle Ages because it was supposed to spur courage and energy.
Creeping thyme
Creeping thyme is a perennial native to Northern Europe, Western Asia, and northern Africa. Its pink to purple bell-shaped flowers and blue-green leaves make it a popular ornamental plant. Because of its pleasant fragrance, it is also used in the production of perfumes. Throughout the Middle Ages, Thymus serpyllum was seen as an emblem of courage and strength.
Mother of thyme
Mother of thyme, or Creeping Thyme, is a flowering lawn substitute. It grows in low, dense mats and is hardy and deer resistant. This flowering herb is edible, like other species of Thyme, and has a mild, mint-like flavor. It grows easily and can be started by seed or division.
Lemon thyme
The lemon thyme (Thymus pulegioides) is widely distributed across Europe and northeastern North America. This small, bush-forming Thymus pulegioides is distinguished by its pleasant lemony smell. It can be found in meadows, sunny hillsides, rocky terrain, and along roads, and it is often cultivated in rock gardens. The lemon thyme is a well-known aromatic herb used for making flavored tea.
Show More Species
All Species of Thymes
Garden thyme
Creeping thyme
Mother of thyme
Lemon thyme
Five-ribbed thyme
Thyme
Lemon thyme
Wild thyme
Lemon thyme
Thymes 'Silver Queen'
Creeping thyme 'Pink Chintz'
Thymus linearis
Garden thyme 'Silver Posie'
Lemon thyme 'Doone Valley'
Creeping thyme 'Magic Carpet'
Garden thyme 'Silver Queen'
Mother of thyme 'Coccineus'
More Popular Genus
Feedback
Dracaena
Dracaena are popular house plants that are easy to grow. They can tolerate low-light conditions and require little watering. Their leaves range from variegated to dark green. Their characteristic traits include woody stems that grow slowly but offer a striking appearance for small spaces such as apartments or offices.
Fig trees
Fig trees have been cultivated in many regions for their fruits, particularly the common fig, F. carica. Most of the species have edible fruits, although the common fig is the only one of commercial value. Fig trees are also important food sources for wildlife in the tropics, including monkeys, bats, and insects.
Brambles
Brambles are members of the rose family, and there are hundreds of different types to be found throughout the European countryside. They have been culturally significant for centuries; Christian folklore stories hold that when the devil was thrown from heaven, he landed on a bramble bush. Their vigorous growth habit can tangle into native plants and take over.
Maples
The popular tree family known as maples change the color of their leaves in the fall. Many cultural traditions encourage people to watch the colors change, such as momijigari in Japan. Maples popular options for bonsai art. Alternately, their sap is used to create maple syrup.
Prunus
Prunus is a genus of flowering fruit trees that includes almonds, cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, and apricots. These are often known as "stone fruits" because their pits are large seeds or "stones." When prunus trees are damaged, they exhibit "gummosis," a condition in which the tree's gum (similar to sap) is secreted to the bark to help heal external wounds.
Nightshades
Nightshades is a large and diverse genus of plants, with more than 1500 different types worldwide. This genus incorporates both important staple food crops like tomato, potato, and eggplant, but also dangerous poisonous plants from the nightshade family. The name was coined by Pliny the Elder almost two thousand years ago.
Roses
Most species of roses are shrubs or climbing plants that have showy flowers and sharp thorns. They are commonly cultivated for cut flowers or as ornamental plants in gardens due to their attractive appearance, pleasant fragrance, and cultural significance in many countries. The rose hips (fruits) can also be used in jams and teas.
Oaks
Oaks are among the world's longest-lived trees, sometimes growing for over 1,000 years! The oldest known oak tree is in the southern United States and is over 1,500 years old. Oaks produce an exceedingly popular type of wood which is used to make different products, from furniture and flooring to wine barrels and even cosmetic creams.
Your Ultimate Guide to Plants
Identify grow and nurture the better way!
17,000 local species +400,000 global species studied
Nearly 5 years of research
80+ scholars in botany and gardening
Continue reading in our app - it's better
A database of 400000+ plants
unlimited guides at your fingertips...
unlimited guides at your fingertips...
