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Thyme is cultivated throughout the world for culinary, cosmetic, and medicinal purposes, the manufacture of perfume, and for red and white thyme oil. Common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) and Spanish thyme (T. zygis) are used interchangeably for medicinal purposes. Crude dried or fresh herb may be brewed as tea or extracted into an alcohol macerate.
Common thyme contains 0.4–3.4% of the volatile oil; Spanish thyme contains 0.7–1.38%. The red or white thyme oil is manufactured commercially for use in cough drops, mouthwashes, liniment, toothpaste, detergent, and perfume. Because white thyme oil is a distilled red thyme oil product, red thyme oil is generally preferred (Leung and Foster, 1996).
Thyme in its crude herb form is carminative, antibiotic, anthelmintic, astringent, expectorant, and antitussive. It has been used in traditional medicine to treat heartburn, gastritis, asthma, laryngitis, pertussis, and bronchitis (Newall et al., 1996). Extracts demonstrate in vitro anti-inflammatory effects on guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle tissue,and the volatile oil in the herb most likely exerts spasmolytic effects on bronchial tissues in humans. The herb is approved by Commission E in the treatment of bronchitis, whooping cough, and upper respiratory inflammation.
Like the herb's infusions and extracts, thyme oil is also carminative, expectorant, and possesses antimicrobial and anthelmintic properties, due to concentrated thymol and carvacrol content, but it is extremely toxic. As an ingredient in toothpaste, thyme oil has been blamed for cases of inflamed lips and tongue reported in the toothpaste users. Signs of toxicity escalate from nausea to respiratory arrest. For these reasons, the herb is preferred to the oil.
Thyme was known to classic Rome; it was added to cheeses and alcoholic beverages. In the seventeenth century, herbalist Nicholas Culpepper wrote that thyme teas and infusions were useful for whooping cough, shortness of breath, gout, and mild stomach pains. He suggested that a thyme ointment be used to eliminate abscesses and warts. Thyme oil was used as a rubefacient and counterirritant, and was part of an herbal cigarette that was smoked to relieve stomach upset, headache, and fatigue. Thyme essence was used in perfumes and embalming oils.
Thyme's common name may be derived from a Greek word meaning to fumigate, because the Greeks used thyme as an incense. It may also have come from the Greek word thumus, meaning courage. In medieval times, thyme was regarded as a plant that could impart courage and vigor, and women often embroidered a sprig of thyme on gifts for their favorite knight.
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