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Thymus herba-barona
Caraway thyme is a low, creeping woody-based perennial from Corsica with a strong caraway scent, grown as a culinary herb and evergreen ground cover. It needs full sun and well-drained soil that is not kept wet.
Thymus herba-barona is a species of thyme native to Corsica. It is also sometimes known by the common name caraway thyme, as it has a strong scent similar to caraway, for which it can be used as a substitute in any recipe. It can be used in cuisine or as an evergreen ground cover plant for the garden.
The species was described by Jean Louis August Loiseleur-Deslongchamps in 1807. Thymus herba-barona subsp. bivalens, which is native to the Spanish island of Mallorca, is now considered a distinct species, Thymus bivalens.
Caraway thyme grows best in average soil with light watering and full sunlight. The plant was favoured in England as a seasoning for barons of beef; this inspired its scientific name. It is cultivated in gardens across the world. Caraway thyme is difficult to grow from seed, so it is usually purchased as young plants 5–10 cm high, in small pots.
Caraway thyme contains an essential oil and the plant has antiseptic, deodorant and disinfectant uses. It also has uses in perfumery, as a mouth wash and as a traditional medicine. A study undertaken to compare the essential oil with similar oils from two other members of the genus found that all three had similar antimicrobial activities against gram-positive bacteria and against mycetes as compared to the well known antiseptic chlorhexidine gluconate.
Algerian Thyme · Wild Thyme · Spanish Lemon Thyme · Azores Thyme · Camphor Thyme · Thymus · Thymus capitellatus · Portuguese Thyme · Lemon Thyme · Thymus dubjanskyi · Hyemalis Thyme · Thymus integer
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Thymus herba-barona 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.
