THYME THYMUS CITRIODORUS A. V. - info

(taken from the book of Alfredo Cattabiani "Florario - myths, legends and symbols of plants and flowers". It is a book to buy read see!)

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BELOVED BY FAIRIES

Filocoro of Athens, an exegete, I guess, and a deep knowledge of the rites, mentions that it was the thyme to the flame of the sacrifices of antiquity, the nephdlia, where we refrained from any libation of wine and they are not used, neither the wood of the vine nor the fig.

The sacrificial use of the thymus is explained by the same name of the Greek thymon, which he designated as the shrub more suitable to produce smoke the sacrificial: derived from the verb thymiào, "burning it as a perfume".

It was translated in the Latin thymus, which gave its name to the two main species, Thymus vulgaris and Thymus serpillum: the first, which lives mainly in dry places, has the stems ascending or erect, and the flowers pinkish or white; the second has the pink flowers, with leaves dotted with small glands that contain essential oils.

The latter was called serpillum why, " wrote Pliny, "there lurks, as is the case in wild species, especially in rocky terrain; while in fact the one that is cultivated does not strip, but grows up to a height of a palm".

Since the name is reminiscent of snakes, it was said in ancient times that it was effective against the bite of reptiles, "and especially" referred to, the same Pliny "against the cencro and against the scolopendre, both land and sea, and scorpios: you have to boil the twigs and leaves in the wine."

It is said that it is loved by the fairies; so that those who want to meet them you should prepare an infusion of its flowers: but we must do so with caution and in open places, because it would be dangerous to bring the flowers in the house.

We know with certainty that the flower is one of the most sought after by the bees, as already recalled Virgil compares the city active in a hive:
So at the beginning of the summer, the work
for the flower fields is easy on the bees in the sun,
when driving out of the children and adults of the species
or throng the liquid honey, and they lled of sweet nectar
the cells, or receive the weight from coming, or done a host
they drive away from the hives the drones, neghittoso swarm:
there is the work, olezza the fragrant thyme honey.

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THE SYMBOLISM OF THE PLANT

Thanks to this close connection with the busy bees, the plant thyme has evoked the emblem of Diligence.

In the Iconology of Ripa, it is described as a woman of lively appearance holding in right hand a branch of thyme, above which flies a bee, and in the left a branch of an almond tree bound to another of a mulberry, while at his feet there is a cock that bulldozer is: "The diligent industry, that is, the industrious Diligence to elect, to choose, and capare the best is figured by the Bee that flies over the Thyme [...]. Plutarch in the treatise on the tranquillity of the soul refers to that is grass bruschissima and aridissima and yet, from that they take the Bees, the apples, the apply he to men, generous of heart that the austerity they are doing useful". As for the almond tree bound to the mulberry, it is meant to mean that the person who is diligent can't be rushed in their work, but must combine hard work and patience, according to the golden motto of the augustan Festina lente,
portrayed perfectly by the almond tree, first tree to bloom, and the mulberry, which is the last one. The cock finally "is an animal caring and diligent for himself, in the act of ruspare demonstrates the attione of the Diligence, because the cock so much the bulldozer to the ground since that is what you want, and is a discerner of the unnecessary grains of his food."

The emblem of the Ripa is riallacciava to a custom of the middle Ages, when ladies to promote this virtue in their knight the and gave a scarf on which was embroidered a bee that was flying around a twig of thyme.

In the language of nineteenth-century flowers this plant has symbolized both the personification of both Love and long-lasting with the message: "don't you
never forget it!".

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MEDICINAL USES ANCIENT AND MODERN

In the Renaissance, as witnessed by Castor During the is advised, cooked in wine, for asthmatics and podagrosi, but also to cure the irritation of the bladder, eliminate the tapeworm, heal from the poisons and cause menstruation.

It was used, dried, pulverized and mixed with clay, such as toothpaste and disinfectant of the gums.

Still today it is being employed for the cleaning of the body and the disinfection solutions and detergents soap-stock.

It is also a component of hair lotions.

The thyme is extracted an essential oil comprising thymol and carvacrol, and terpenes and terpene derivatives, with properties that are antiseptic and antispasmodic.

A time is recommended which appropriate medication to treat via the oral route, typhoid, and dysentery, or inhaled, tuberculosis, bronchitis and whooping cough.