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Wild, or Mother of Thyme

Description. This plant has a small, stringy, creeping root, from which spring a great number of very slender, leaning, woody stalks, having two small, roundish, green leaves, set at a joint, on short foot-stalks. The flowers grow on the tops of the stalks among the leaves, in small lose spikes of a reddish purple colour. The leaves and flowers have a strong pleasant smell. We have another sort which bears a flower as large again as the common, which is the only difference; and another, whose leaves and branches are very hairy: they are found in several places with the common, and are of the same nature. Place. It is frequent on hilly heaths, in dry pastures, and by road sides. Time. The flowers appear in July.

Government and virtues. The whole plant is fragrant, and yields an essential oil that is very heating. An infusion of the leaves removes the head-ach, occasioned by the debauch of the preceding night.

Mother of Thyme is under Venus. It is excellent in nervous disorders. A strong infusion of it, drank in the manner of tea, is pleasant, and a very effectual remedy for head-achs, giddiness, and other disorders of that kind; and it is a certain remedy for that troublesome complaint, the night-mare. A gentleman afflicted for a long space of time with this complaint in a terrible manner, and having in vain sought for relief from the usual means employed for that purpose, was advised to make trial of the infusion of this plant, which soon removed it, and he continued free for several years, after which the disorder sometimes returned, but always gave way to the remedy.