The Thymus Information Page




Introduction

Overview of Sections

Sections

North Africa, Ethiopia and the Canary Islands

Using keys

Glossary

Bibliography

Links

Overview of the sections into which Thymus is divided.

 
 
Around 110 species of Thymus occur in the Mediterranean area. Five out of eight sections into which Jalas subdivided the genus are restricted to the western Mediterranean (Iberian Peninsula and northwest Africa) and Macaronesia: Mastichina, Micantes, Piperella, Pseudothymbra and Thymus. Section Mastichina comprises two species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula. Section Micantes comprises two woody Moroccan species besides the Iberian and Macaronesian T. caespititius. The monotypic section Piperella is exclusive to eastern Spain. Of the 9 species included in the long-flowered section Pseudothymbra, 7 occur on the Iberian Peninsula and the other 2 in northwest Africa. Section Thymus comprises 11 species, 3 of them ( T. hyemalis, T. zygis and T. willdenowii ) distributed both on the Iberian Peninsula and in north Africa, 7 are found only on the Iberian Peninsula and 1 T. vulgaris in eastern Spain, southern France and northern Italy. Of the remaining three sections, section Teucrioides includes 3 montane endemic Greek species. Section Hyphodromi comprises 46 species arranged in three subsections: Thymbropsis with 14 north African and Asian species, Subbracteati with 19 central and eastern Mediterranean species and Serpyllastrum with 13 northern Mediterranean species. Section Serpyllum, occuring throughout the area of the genus, is apparently the oldest and taxonomically the most difficult, with more than 30 species in the Mediterranean area belonging to six different subsections.

I.	Sect. MICANTES 
Il.	Sect. MASTICHINA
III.	Sect. PIPERELLA
IV.	Sect. TEUCRIOIDES
V.	Sect. PSEUDOTHYMBRA
		a) Subsect. PSEUDOTHYMBRA
		b) Subsect. ANOMALAE
VI.	Sect. THYMUS
  		a) Subsect. THYMASTRA
  		b) Subsect. THYMUS
VII.	Sect. HYPHODROMI
		a)Subsect.  SUBBRACTEATI
		b) Subsect. SERPYLLASTRUM
		c) Subsect. THYMBROPSIS
VIII.	Sect. SERPYLLUM
		a) Subsect. INSULARES
		b) Subsect. PSEUDOPIPERELLAE
		c) Subsect. KOTSCHYANI
		d) Subsect. ISOLEPIDES
		e) Subsect. ALTERNANTES
		f) Subsect. PSEUDOMARGINATI
		g) Subsect. SERPYLLUM