The Description.

            1. Both Dioscorides and Pliny make two kinds of Serpillum, that is, of creeping or Wild Thyme; whereof the first is our common creeping Thyme which is so well known, that it needeth no description; yet this ye shall understand, that it beareth flowers of a purple colour, as everybody knoweth. Of which kind I found another sort with flowers as white as snow, and have planted it in my garden, where it becometh an herb of great beauty.

            2. This wild Thyme that bringeth forth white flowers differeth not from the other, but only in the colour of the flowers, whence it may be called Serpillum vulgare flore albo, White-Flowered Wild Thyme.

            There is another kind of Serpillum, which groweth in gardens, in smell and savour resembling Marjoram. It hath leaves like Oregano, or Wild Marjoram, but somewhat whiter, putting forth many small stalks, set full of leaves like Rue, but longer, narrower, and harder. The flowers are of a biting taste, and pleasant smell. The whole plant groweth upright, whereas the other creepeth along upon the earth, catching hold where it grows, & spreading itself far abroad.

            3. This great wild Thyme creepeth not as the others do, but standeth upright, and bringeth low little slender branches full of leaves like those of Rue; yet narrower, longer, and harder. The flowers be of a purple colour, and of a twingeing biting taste: it groweth upon rocks, and is hotter than any of the others.

            4. This other great one with white flowers differeth not from the precedent, having many knops or heads of a milk-white colour, which setteth forth the difference; and it may be called Serpillum maius flore albo, Great White-Flowered Wild Thyme.

Fig. 855. Kinds of Wild Thyme (5-8)

            5. This wild Thyme creepeth upon the ground, set with many leaves by couples like those of Marjoram, but lesser, of the same smell: the flowers are of a reddish color. The root is very thready.

            6. Wild Thyme of Candy is like unto the other wild Thymes, saving that his leaves are narrower and longer and more in number at each joint. The smell is more aromatical than any of the others, wherein is the difference.

            7. There is a kind of wild Thyme growing upon the mountains of Italy, called Serpillum citratum, that is, having the smell of a Pome Citron, or a lemon, which giveth it the difference from the other wild Thymes. It grows in many gardens also, and (as I have been told) wild in divers places of Wales.

            8. This (which is the Serpillum Pannonicum 3 of Clusius) runs or spreads itself far upon the ground. For though it have a hard and woody root like as the former kinds, yet the branches which lie spread round about here and there take root, which in time become as hard and woody as the former. The leaves and stalks are like those of the last described, but rough and hoary: the flowers also are not unlike those of the common kind. The whole plant hath a kind of resinous smell. It flowers in June with the rest, and grows upon the like mountainous places; but whether with us in England or no I cannot yet affirm anything of certainty.

The Place.

            The first groweth upon barren hills and untoiled places: the second groweth in gardens. The white kind I found at Southfleet in Kent, in a barren field belonging to one Mr. William Swan.

The Time.

            They flower from May to the end of summer.

The Names.

            Wild Thyme is called in Latin Serpillum, à serpendo, of creeping: in high and low Dutch, Nuendel, and Wilden Thymus, and also Dufer Vrouwen bedstroo: in Spanish, Serpoll: in Italian, serpillo: in French, Pillolet: in English, Wild Thyme, Puliall Mountain, Pella mountain, running Thyme, creeping Thyme, Mother of Thyme: in shops it is called Serpillum: yet some call it Pulegium montanum: and it is everywhere (saith Dodonæus) thought to be the Serpillum of the Ancients. Notwithstanding it answereth not so well to the wild Thymes as to Dioscordes his Saxifranga; for if it be diligently compared with the description of both the Serpilla and the Saxifranga, it shall be found to be little like the wild Thymes, but very much, like the Saxifranga: for (saith Dioscorides ) Saxifranga is an herb like Thyme, growing on rocks, where our common wild Thyme is oftentimes found.

            Ælianus in his ninth book of his sundry Histories seemeth to number wild Thyme among the flowers. Dionysius Junior (saith he) coming into the city Locris in Italy, possessed most of the houses of the city, and did strew them with roses, wild Thyme, and other such kinds of flowers. Yet Virgil in the second Eclogue of his Bucolics doth most manifestly testify that wild Thyme is an herb, in these words:

Thestylis & rapido fessis messoribus astu
Allia, serpillumque, herbas contundit olentes.

Thestylis for mowers tired with parching heat
Garlic, wild Thyme, strong smelling herbs doth beat.

            Out of which place it may be gathered, that common wild Thyme is the true and right Serpillum, or wild Thyme, which the Grecians call Erpillos. Marcellus an old ancient author among the Frenchmen saith it is called Gilarum; as Plinius Valerianus saith it is called of the same, Laurio.

The Temperature.

            Wild Thyme is of temperature hot and dry in the third degree: it is of thin and subtle parts, cutting and much biting.

The Virtues

            A. It bringeth down the desired sickness, provoketh urine, applied in baths and fomentations it procureth sweat: being boiled in wine, it helpeth the ague, it easeth the strangury, it stayeth the hicket, it breaketh the stones in the bladder, it helpeth the lethargy, frenzy, and madness, and stayeth the vomiting of blood.

            B. Wild Thyme boiled in wine and drunk, is good against the wambling and gripings of the belly, ruptures, convulsions, and inflammations of the liver.

            C. It helpeth against the bitings of any venomous beast, either taken in drink, or outwardly applied.

            D. Aetius writeth, That Serpillum infused well in vinegar, and then sodden and mingled with rose water, is a right singular remedy to cure them that have had a long frenzy or lethargy.

            E. Galen prescribeth one dram of the juice to be given in vinegar against the vomiting of blood, and helpeth such as are grieved with the spleen.

END OF VOLUME TWO