Wild thyme
Thymus serpyllum L.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Little
- tall
- 9 cm
- wide
- 17 cm
Lamiaceae
Also called Creeping thyme, Breckland thyme
Formerly Origanum serpyllum, Serpyllum vulgare
When it flowers
Not known yet in the tropics: too few flowering observations to read a season from.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- SubshrubKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- TemperateKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Europe to W. SiberiaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 8 cm to 10 cmRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension 2–3 in; Wikipedia 10–10 cm
- Spread
- 8 cm to 25 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Little: takes droughtRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- Pink, purpleRead from NC State Extension and Wikipedia, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension pink, purple; Wikipedia magenta, pink, purple, white
- Coldest it survives
- -34.4 °C (USDA zone 4a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Finnish
- kangasajuruoho
- French
- serpolet, thym sauvage, thym serpolet
- German
- Sand-Thymian, Feldkümmel, Feldquendel
- Czech
- mateřídouška úzkolistá
- Estonian
- nõmm-liivatee, Jaanitee, Kaetisrohi
- Danish
- Smalbladet timian, Smalbladet Timian
- Russian
- Тимьян ползучий, Богородицына травка, Богородская трава
- Norwegian Bokmål
- småtimian
- Catalan
- Serpoll, Timó, Farigola de muntanya
- Italian
- Serpillo, Timo serpillo
- Lithuanian
- Paprastasis čiobrelis
- Spanish
- Serpol, tomillo salsero, serpol
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikipedia, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0
- 3D model: Thymus serpyllum (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.