Birds and All Nature: Thyme

THYME.
(Thymus Serpyllum L.)

DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER,
Northwestern University School of Pharmacy.

But, if a pinching winter thou foresee,
And wouldst preserve thy famished family,
With fragrant thyme the city fumigate.

— Virgil, Georgics, (Dryden), IV., 350.

THE field or wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum) is a small, much-branched shrub, about one foot high, with rather slender quad-rangular, purplish, pubescent stems. Leaves small, opposite, sessile. Flowers numerous, in clusters in the axils of the upper leaves. Corolla purplish, irregular; calyx green and persistent. The plant is propagated by means of underground stems. It is far from being a showy plant.

This plant is closely related to the garden thyme (T. vulgaris, L.), and grows profusely in meadows, fields and gardens. Both species are very fragrant and it is to this characteristic that they owe their popularity. The ancient Greeks and Romans valued thyme very highly and made use of it as a cosmetic, in medicine and in veterinary practice, much as it is used at the present time. Thyme yields the oil of thyme which is a valuable antiseptic, used as a gargle and mouth wash, for toothache, in dressing wounds and ulcers, also for sprains and bruises, in chronic rheumatism, etc. It finds extensive use in the preparation of perfumes and scented soaps; but its principal use is in veterinary practice. The herb is much used as a flavoring agent in soups and sauces, in fomentations, in baths and in the preparation of scented pillows.

Two kinds of oil of thyme appear upon the market, the red oil and the white oil. The latter is less aromatic being the product of redistillation. The oil is also known as oil of origanum.

Although thyme is an insignificant plant as far as appearances are concerned it has been sung by many poets. In Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" Oberon, the king of the fairies, says to Robin Goodfellow:

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine."

Another reference to thyme is to be found in the beautiful and pathetic story of "The Adopted Child" by Mrs. Hemans. The orphan boy in speaking to the kind lady who has adopted him, says:

"Oh! green is the turf where my brothers play
Through the long, bright hours of the summer day;
They find the red cup-moss where they climb,
And they chase the bee o'er the scented thyme."

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE. — A. plant somewhat reduced; 1-2. leaves; 3. flower bud; 4-5. flower; 4-8. different views of the flower; 9. flower without stamens; 10. stamens; 11. pollen grains; 12-13. Pistil; 14. developing fruit; 15. transverse section of fruit; 16. ripening fruit; 17-19. seed.