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Satureja thymbra
Also called Pink savory, Water savory, Thyme Leaved Savory
Persian zatar (Satureja thymbra) is an evergreen dwarf shrub in the mint family, native to the Mediterranean, with aromatic dark-green leaves and pink to purple flowers. Grow it in full sun in well-drained, lean, alkaline soil, as it thrives on rocky limestone terrain.
Satureja thymbra, commonly known as savory of Crete, whorled savory, pink savory, and Roman hyssop (Arabic: za'atar rumi; za'atar franji), is a perennial-evergreen dwarf shrub of the family Lamiaceae. It is noted for its dark-green leaves, which grow on numerous, closely compacted branches, reaching a height of 20–50 centimetres (8–19+1⁄2 in). Pink to purple flowers blossom between March and June. It is native to southeastern Europe and Libya, Africa.
The semi-shrub is native to Libya, Africa, and southeastern Europe from Sardinia to Turkey; Crete, Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel (Palestine).
The crushed leaves of this plant have more of a pungent taste and smell than the true hyssop (eizov), for which reason it is not commonly used today as a spice, except in Lebanon, where it is still used as a herbal tea in Lebanese traditional medicine. In ancient times, whorled savory was used as a spice in Anatolia and Greece. In Mishnaic times, the whorled savory was called sī'ah in Hebrew, and is often mentioned in rabbinic literature along with eizov (marjoram) and qurnit (white-leaved savory), three herbal plants that grew naturally in the wild and were harvested either for firewood or for human consumption. In ancient times in Israel (Palestine), water in which whorled savory had been steeped was used to flavor meats that had been skewered and placed over hot coals for roasting. Dioscorides, in the Third Book of his De Materia Medica (3:44–45), alludes to the plant, saying that it was used to flavor meat, and brings down other medicinal uses in his day.
Satureja coerulea · Summer savory · Winter savory · Satureja spicigera · Savory
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Satureja thymbra by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
