MEDICINAL PART. The herb.
    Description. -- Thyme is a small undershrub, with numerous erect stems, procumbent at base, and from six to ten inches in height. The leaves are oblong-ovate, lanceolate, and numerous. The flowers are bluish-purple, small, and arranged on leafy whorled spikes.
    History. -- A native of Europe, but introduced into this country, and extensively cultivated in gardens for culinary purposes. It blossoms in the summer, when it should be collected and carefully dried. It has a strong, pungent, spicy taste and odor, both of which are retained by careful drying. The herb yields its properties to boiling water and alcohol.
    Properties and Uses. -- Tonic, carminative, emmenagogue, and antispasmodic. The cold infusion is beneficial in dyspepsia with weak and irritable stomach. The warm infusion is useful as a parturient, also in hysteria, dysmenorrhoea, flatulence, colic, and to promote perspiration. The leaves are used externally in fomentation.
    The THYMUS SERPYLLUS, Wild Thyme or Mother of Thyme, has similar virtues to the above.