''Thymus capitatus'' is a compact, woody perennial native to
Mediterranean Europe
Southern Europe is the southern region of Europe. It is also known as Mediterranean Europe, as its geography is essentially marked by the Mediterranean Sea. Definitions of Southern Europe include some or all of these countries and regions: Alba ...
and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, more commonly known as conehead thyme, Persian-hyssop and Spanish oregano. It is also known under the name ''Thymbra capitata''.
Description
The plant has rising stems and narrow, fleshy, oil-gland-dotted green leaves that reach a length of .
The pink, -long flowers are held in cone-shaped clusters at the ends of their stems in mid to late summer; they are protected by overlapping, -long, red-tinged bracts, edged in tiny hairs.
In
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
, a species of leafless parasitic dodder (''
Cuscuta epithymum
''Cuscuta epithymum'' (dodder, lesser dodder, hellweed, strangle-tare) is a parasitic plant assigned to the family Cuscutaceae or Convolvulaceae, depending on the taxonomy. It is red-pigmented, not being photosynthetically active. It has a fi ...
'') would often attach itself to the conehead thyme (''Thymus capitatus''), taking on the plant's pungency and from whence it also derived its host's Arabic name, ''al-ṣaʿitrah''.
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''Thymus capitatus'' is hardy from USDA Zones 7–10. In Israel, the plant ''Thymus capitatus'' has protected status, making it a criminal offence to harvest it.
[Avi Shmida, ''MAPA's Dictionary of Plants and Flowers in Israel'', Tel Aviv 2005, p. 355 (s.v. Coridothymus capitatus) (Hebrew) ]
See also
*''
Satureja thymbra
''Satureja thymbra'', commonly known as savory of Crete, whorled savory, pink savory, and Roman hyssop ( Arabic: ''za'atar rumi''; ''za'atar franji''), is a perennial-green dwarf shrub of the family Lamiaceae, having strongly scented leaves, ende ...
''
References
capitatus
Flora of Italy
Flora of Spain
Flora of Turkey
Herbs
Flora of Israel
Flora of Palestine (region)
Flora of the Mediterranean Basin
{{Lamiaceae-stub