Thyme

Thymus vulgaris L. Labiatae

Names:

Common Thyme, garden thyme, greek, meaning" to fumigate", also from grk. culture, "thumus" meaning courage.,T serpyllum (wild, or lemon Thyme) ,Running Thyme, Mother of Thyme.

 

History:

When burnt,(Pliny) it put venomous creatures to flight!

Essential Oil, Carvacrol is produced commercially as a snake repellant.

Smelling of thyme expressed praise (Lady Northcote).An emblem of activity, bravery and energy.Ladies embroidered a bee over thyme sprigs on scarves for knights. * Similar historic use for uterine discomfort as of Motherwort.Used by Romans for an aromatic flavour in cheese.


Constituents:

Essential Oils (to 2.5 %), the phenols thymol*(to 40%) and carvacrol (an isomeric phenol), borneol, cymene, linalol, l-pinene,bornyl-acetate,acid and neutral saponins, thiamine, ursolic acid, caffeic acid, tannins, menthone, bitter compounds, other active components.

* Thymol is methyl-propyl-phenol

Uses:

Antiseptic, carminative, vermifuge, rubefascient, beneficial in gastrointestinal complaints and respiratory ailments, antihelmintic (destroys hookworm), cosmetics, commercial flavouring, thyme produces red (crude distillate) and white oils (rectified of red nature through distillation), antispasmodic.

1 oz to 1 pint of tea for sore throat (add honey)

kitchen herb:
used in a formula for herb Tobacco for digestion,headache, drowsiness.

Embalming:
(Essence of Thyme) treated with caustic potash, it yields iodo- thymol, known as "Aristol", perfumes, sachets, meat preservative, deodorant, local anaesthetic resembling carbiolic acid, paint for ringworm, psoriasis, eczema, broken chilblains, parasitic skin affections and burns, ointment with lavender to fend off mosquitos, Thymol in oily solution for nasal catarrh, inhalant for bronchial infection, in capsule as vermifuge (Adults only), whooping cough, laryngitis, against septic sore throat espec. during scarlet fever.


To Companion Article

 


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