Common thyme
Thymus vulgaris L.
- light
- Full sun
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 23 cm
- wide
- 28 cm
Lamiaceae
Also called Garden thyme, Thyme, Common Thyme, English Thyme, Garden Thyme
Formerly Origanum thymus
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
- SW. Europe, SE. ItalyKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun (6 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 15 cm to 30 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 15 cm to 41 cmRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- White, pink, purpleRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Coldest it survives
- -28.9 °C (USDA zone 5a)Read from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- tomillo, Tomillo, Tomillo Común
- Portuguese
- tomilho, Tomilho
- Catalan
- farigola, timó, Farigola
- French
- thym commun, farigoule, thym cultivé
- Czech
- mateřídouška obecná, tymián, tymián obecný
- Dutch
- echte tijm, Echte tijm
- Japanese
- タチジャコウソウ, タイム, フォックスリータイム
- Norwegian Bokmål
- kryddertimian
- Swedish
- kryddtimjan, Kryddtimjan
- German
- Echter Thymian
- Finnish
- timjami, tarha-ajuruoho
- Greek
- Θυμάρι
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Thymus vulgaris (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.