Thymus vulgaris
Common names
culinary thyme
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Flower colours
Violet/Purple, White
Detailed description
Small hairy shrub to about 30 cm high. Shoots and leaves densely clothed in hairs. The leaves are sessile and are up to 8 x 3 mm. The flowers are held on the ends of the stems in dense clusters, flowers range from white to mauve. The seeds are about 7 mm long and are dark brown.
Similar taxa
The stems and leaves are aromatic when crushed. T. pulegioides (creeping thyme) has a much more prostrate form.
Habitat
Terrestrial. Forms dominate scrub in cold dry areas
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Family
Lamiaceae
Ecology
Flowering
September, October, November, December
Year naturalised
1926
Origin
Mediterranean
Reason for introduction
Agricultural
Tolerances
Very tolerant of cold and dry conditions.
Life cycle and dispersal
Perrenial. Reproduces by seed (large amounts are produced). Dispersed by humans, gravity, soil movement.
Other information
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
THYVUL