- Thymus praecox
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Thymus praecox 
Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Asterids Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Genus: Thymus Species: T. praecox Binomial name Thymus praecox
OpizThymus praecox is a species of thyme. A common name is Mother-of-Thyme; "creeping thyme" and "wild thyme" may be used where Thymus serpyllum, normally called thus, is not found. This thyme has a strong scent similar to Oregano. It can be used in cuisine or as an evergreen ground cover for gardens.
T. praecox has escaped cultivation in North America.[1]
Classification
T. praecox is in the genus Thymus belonging to the Serpyllum section. It has sometimes been reclassified as T. polytrichus.[2]
- Subspecies and cultivars
- Thymus praecox subsp. praecox
- Thymus praecox 'Doone Valley' (recently reclassified as a hybrid under the name Thymus 'Doone Valley'[2])
- Thymus praecox 'Minus'
- Thymus praecox 'Pseudolanuginosus'
- Thymus praecox subsp. arcticus (sometimes classified as Thymus polytrichus subsp. britannicus[2][3])
- Thymus praecox subsp. arcticus 'Albus' (white moss thyme)
- Thymus praecox subsp. arcticus 'Languinosus' (woolly thyme)
- Thymus praecox subsp. arcticus 'Hall's Woolly'
- Thymus praecox subsp. arcticus 'Pink Chintz' (recently reclassified as Thymus serpyllum 'Pink Chintz'[2])
- Thymus praecox subsp. polytrichus (A. Kern. Ex Borbàs) Jalas. Found in the wild in Bosnia.[4]
- Thymus praecox subsp. skorpilii (Velen.) Jalas. Found in the wild in Bosnia.[4]
Like other species of thyme, T. praecox is characterized by substantial differences in essential oil composition from plant to plant. Plants which differ in this way are known as chemotypes and a geographical population will generally contain a mix of chemotypes. For example, studies of chemotypes in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, England, Scotland, and Ireland show that chemotypes span those countries rather than being geographically localized.[5][6] Some of those areas contain greater chemotype diversity than others.[7]
References
- ^ Thymus praecox Opiz, USDA PLANTS
- ^ a b c d Brickell, C. & Zuk, J., Editors-in-Chief. The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, First American Edition. (New York: DK Publishing, Inc., 1997; ISBN 0-7894-1943-2).
- ^ Thymus polytrichus A. Kern. ex Borbás subsp. britannicus (Ronniger) Kerguélen and Thymus praecox Opiz subsp. arcticus (Durand) Jalas, GRIN Taxonomy for Plants
- ^ a b Vidic, D; Cavar, S; Solić, ME; Maksimović, M (2010), "Volatile constituents of two rare subspecies of Thymus praecox", Natural product communications 5 (7): 1123–6, PMID 20734955
- ^ Stahl-Biskup, E (Feb 1986), "The Essential Oil from Norwegian Thymus Species. I. Thymus praecox ssp. Arcticus", Planta medica 52 (1): 36–8, doi:10.1055/s-2007-969062, ISSN 0032-0943, PMID 17345180
- ^ Stahl, Elisabeth (1984), "Chemical polymorphism of essential oil in Thymus praecox ssp. Arcticus (Lamiaceae) from Greenland", Nordic Journal of Botany 4 (5): 597, doi:10.1111/j.1756-1051.1984.tb01985.x
- ^ Schmidt, A (2004), "Essential oil polymorphism of Thymus praecox subsp. Arcticus on the British Isles", Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 32 (4): 409, doi:10.1016/j.bse.2003.10.003
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