Scientific Name: Thymus serpyllum (Lamiaceae).
English Name: Breckland Thyme; Wild Thyme; Creeping Thyme (Dead-nettle family).
French Name: Le Serpolet; Le Thym serpolet.
5 Key Characters:
- flower stems rounded squares in section, equally hairy all round.
- leaves erect, oval, aromatic.
- flowers in dense ovoid heads.
- a creeping plant forming a mat about 2 cm tall.
- a plant of dry shallow soils.
Lookalikes: Other Thymes Thymus spp, which have squarer stems of unequal hairiness. Wild Oregano Origanum vulgare, which is a much bigger plant.
Habitat: Dry arid places, especially sandy soils on limestone.
Flowering Period: May-June-July-August-September.
Status: Very widespread and common.
Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:
Just followed this link, Susan...
ReplyDeletefrom your Puys du Chinonais post of 21 & 22 May 2015...
Breckland Thyme is now almost extinct in the Brecks nowadays...
there is a patch at Grimes Graves... and some quite large spreads at East Walton....
where keeping the habitat open for the Stone Curlews seems to have helped it.