Thyme

Thyme
Common thyme Thymus vulgaris
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae
Genus:	Thymus L.

Thyme (Thymus) (pronounced "time") is a genus of perennial plants. There are about 350 different species of thyme. They are herbaceous plants and sub-shrubs. They can grow to about 40 cm tall. They are the family Lamiaceae and native to Europe, North Africa and Asia.

The stems are usually narrow, sometimes even wiry. The leaves are evergreen in most species. They are arranged in opposite pairs, oval, entire, and small, 4–20 mm long. The flowers are in dense terminal heads, with an uneven calyx, with the upper lip three-lobed, and the lower cleft; the corolla is tubular, 4–10 mm long, and white, pink or purple.

Thymus species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Chionodes distinctella and Coleophora species.