Contains up to 2.5% essential oil composed of monoterpenes such as thymol (37–55%), carvacrol (0.5–5.5%), p-cymene (14–28%), gamma-terpinene (4–12%), linalool (1.5–6.5%), beta-myrcene (1–3%), alpha-terpinene (0.9–2.6%), terpinen-4-ol, alpha-thujene, and carvacrol-methyl-ether. Besides the essential oil, it contains flavonoids (glycosides of apigenin, luteolin, 6-hydroxyluteolin), derivatives of cinnamic acid (caffeic and rosmarinic acids), and polysaccharides.
Used to support expectoration in coughs associated with colds.
These are dried entire leaves and flowers, separated from previously dried stems. The leaf of Thymus vulgaris is typically 4–12 mm long and up to 3 mm wide, sessile or very short petiolate. The blade is rigid, entire, lanceolate to elliptical, gray to gray-green on both sides with rolled-under edges. The midrib is depressed on the upper surface and distinctly raised on the underside. The calyx is green, often flushed with purple, tubular, two-lipped (the upper lip has three lobes bent backward, the lower lip has two ciliate lobes and is longer). After flowering, the calyx encloses the corolla with long, stiff hairs. The corolla is about twice as long as the calyx, usually brownish when dry, with an indistinct two-lipped form.
The leaf of Thymus zygis is about 1.7–6.5 mm long and 0.4–1.2 mm wide, needle-like to oblong-lanceolate, with rolled-under edges. The blade is green to gray-green on both sides, with a sometimes purple midrib and the leaf margin often with long white hairs especially at the base.
It is listed in the pharmacopoeia.
In pulverized drug under the microscope we can see:
Lamiaceae glandular hairs with twelve secretory cells
Diacytic stomata
Two- to three-celled curved covering trichomes with tuberculate walls (“hockey-stick” shape)
Multicellular uniseriate covering trichomes with tuberculate walls
