Scientific name: Thymus polytrichus A. Kern. ex Borbás
Common name: Wild Thyme
Description
Habit: An aromatic perennial, to 7 cm high.
Stems: Creeping stems and erect flowering stems, 4-angled, with 2 sides very hairy and 2 nearly hairless.
Leaves: Opposite, 6-8 mm long, undivided, oval, hairy; smells distinctly of thyme.
Flowers: Purple, zygomorphic, in compact ovoid heads; calyx tubular, of five fused sepals, 2-lipped, upper lip 3-toothed, lower lip 2-toothed; corolla tubular, of 5 fused petals, 2-lipped, upper lip notched, lower lip 3-lobed; stamens 4, attached to the corolla, usually in two pairs, one longer than the other; ovary superior.
Fruits: A group of 4 1-seeded nutlets.
Habitat: Limestone pavement, dry grassland, roadsides, sand-dunes, mountain rocks and cliffs. Distribution: Abundant throughout but commonest on limestone near the sea.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No