''Acinos arvensis'', known commonly as basil thyme and spring savory, is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

of the genus ''

Acinos ''Acinos'' is a genus of ten species of annual and short-lived evergreen perennial woody plants native to southern Europe and western Asia. Its name comes from the Greek word ', the name of a small aromatic plant. They are small, tufted, bushy ...

''. It is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

that usually grows about high and spreads . It prefers to grow in strong sunlight. The scent is faintly reminiscent of

thyme Thyme () is the herb (dried aerial parts) of some members of the genus ''Thymus'' of aromatic perennial evergreen herbs in the mint family Lamiaceae. Thymes are relatives of the oregano genus ''Origanum'', with both plants being mostly indigenou ...

, giving it its common name. ''Acinos arvensis'' is recorded as a food plant for the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

of the

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

'' Coleophora tricolor''.

The Plant List The Plant List was a list of botanical names of species of plants created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden and launched in 2010. It was intended to be a comprehensive record of all known names of plant species ...

regards ''Acinos arvensis'' as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''Clinopodium acinos''.

References

Lamiaceae Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Plants described in 1779 {{Lamiaceae-stub