Some species of wild thyme?

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Some species of wild thyme?

Some species of wild thyme?

This plant was growing in the Saastal, somewhere south of Saas Grund. I believe this is thyme, but I'm not sure which species exactly. Thymus serpyllum Perhaps? 14 July 2014.
rgg
on May 2, 2015 2:31 pm
Image Type(s): Flora
Image ID: 937793

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selinunte01

selinunte01 - May 3, 2015 1:23 pm - Voted 10/10

Hi rgg,

it reminds me of Acinos alpinus (or another close Acinos species), the mountain mint. I´m quite sure that it is no Thymus. Hope you´re doing well, Michael

rgg

rgg - May 3, 2015 2:23 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Hi rgg,

Hi Michael,

I believe you're right about that. Acinos alpinos fits very well. It does look real similar, both flowers and leaves, and the description of its natural habitat fits perfectly with where I found it.

That said, according to Wikipedia Acinos alpinos is indeed a kind of thyme; its English name is Rock Thyme. On the other hand, the German Wikipedia page gives Stein-Bergminze as one of its German names.
So, what does that mean? Is it a thyme, a mint or something else? And to complicate matters further, I just learned that the Lamiaceae family, to which the genus Acinos belongs, also contains genera Thymus and Menta. Apparently there are thymes that don't belong to the genus Thymus, and mints that don't belong to the genus Menta!

Cheers, Rob

selinunte01

selinunte01 - May 3, 2015 4:24 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: Hi rgg,

Yes they all belong to the huge family of Laminaceae, as e.g. all nettles and many more spice plants do, too. The taste of Acinos alpinus is a mints taste and there is a mountain thyme, too, in the Alps which has the taste of real thyme, a very bitter one, though.
I didn´t know that the English name is mountain thyme. That indeed complicate matters further. :-)
Cheers, Michael

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