A creeping plant with woody stems and a taproot. It is rather similar to Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum) but it is larger, the leaves are wider and all the stems form flowering shoots. The reddish stems are squarish in cross-section and have hairs on the edges. The leaves are in opposite pairs with short stalks, and the linear ovate blades have tapering bases and untoothed margins.  The flowers are pink-purple.

Thymus serpyllum (Wild Thyme)

The differences between this and Wild Thyme are very slight; lower internodes of flowering stems have hairs mainly on 4 angles

Records from this species should be confirmed by a County Recorder for botany.  It is on the VC55 Rare Plant Register, and therefore a specimen should not be taken.  Take detailed field photos and submit to NatureSpot as soon as possible; and if you think you have found it in a new location, inform the County Recorder as soon you can.  (RPR)

Bare ground, short turf or coarse grassland on chalk.

In flower during July and August.

Perennial

Widespread in the south of Britain but very local.

Rare in Leicestershire and Rutland

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) as Locally Rare (i.e. present in less than 3 sites)