Thyme lemon-smelling: useful properties, features of care and reviews

Thyme belongs to the family of purgatory (labiate). It is a spicy-taste perennial plant of a wide range of uses. Many varieties of it are planted on flowerbeds, the leaves harvested in the summer eat for the whole year. In addition, it has medicinal properties.

Thyme: description

Thyme and its medicinal properties were known in ancient times. Roman and Greek warriors took baths from the infusion of thyme. They believed that this would give them strength and energy. At the same time, thyme was also used to prepare food as an aromatic plant. In Europe, he was in the XI century.

The height of the thymus bush usually does not exceed 40 cm. It is a perennial herbaceous plant. Its stem is most often located on the ground, and the leaves rise. They are small, depending on the variety - monochrome or variegated, often with a light border along the edge. The shape of the leaves is rounded, pointed. Flowers - light pink, small, but very fragrant. They are collected in the inflorescence.

A pleasant aroma is not only the flowers, but also the leaves of thyme. For him the plant received a lot of popular names, each of which is spread in a certain region of growth. This is thyme, lemon douche, borax pepper, muhopal.

Thyme in nature - a plant that can grow in virtually any region of the world, where the duration of the period with a positive temperature allows the seeds to ripen. It does not require special care. In the southern regions it grows in the form of shrubs, in the northern - grassy perennials.

Types of thyme

Thyme numbers more than 3 hundred species. Basic:

• Creeping (colchis, thyme) - unpretentious half-shrub height not more than 15 cm. It grows, forming a fragrant carpet on glades, slopes. Has a "warm" flavor. It is undemanding to the soil, to lighting, to watering. Most often grows on sandy soils, glades of coniferous forests. It is frost-resistant. There are many decorative grades of thyme creeping, which bloom from mid-June to late summer lilac or purple flowers. Prepare the entire ground part of the plant. You can tear off the leaves all summer. They are used to make soothing tea, treat colds.

• Ordinary, with bright green small leaves and light purple flowers collected in fragrant inflorescences. Herbaceous plant is not more than 20 cm tall. It grows in meadows, glades from the beginning of summer to August. It is not very frost-resistant, therefore it can freeze in a snowless winter with a sharp drop in temperature. New plants will emerge from the seeds that spilled out onto the ground last summer. It also multiplies by dividing the bush. In the composition of about 30% of the aromatic substance thymol.
• Lemon-smelling (lemon) is a small plant that is valued for the lemon scent of the leaves. Created by the natural crossing of thyme with flea.
• Bryophyte with stems 1 cm high, densely intertwined, creates a fluffy carpet on the site.

Thyme lemon-smelling: description

It was discovered and described at the end of the XVI century. The aroma of lemon is not only the leaves and flowers, but also the stem. Thyme lemon-smelling (Thymus x citriodorus (Pers.) Schreb) has a low, by the autumn slightly lignified near the ground, slightly pubescent stem. It can be spread out or grow straight up. The stem is covered with small, up to 1 cm long and 3 mm wide, leaves on short sturdy cuttings. The edges of the leaves are curved, smooth. Flowers are located on the stem, forming an inflorescence ear. The flower is campanulate, the calyx is bilabiate. The size of the flower is 4 mm.

The stems of thyme lemon-smelling bear frosts to -18 ° C. Therefore, in most regions it needs to be sheltered. If this is not done, thyme will develop as an annual plant. New stems will be formed every year.

Varieties

Created many varieties of thyme lemon-smelling. Most Popular:

• Donna Valley is a popular variety, its bright green leaves are covered with yellow spots. Thyme lemon-smelling Doone Valley - the plant is low, does not reach a height of 10 cm.
• Silver Quin is a popular perennial plant, reaching a height of 20 cm. The leaves are dark green, with a white border on the side. Thyme lemon-smelling Silver Queen grows slowly. In winter it should be protected from frost. Summer trimmed to make the bush more magnificent.

• Golden Duarf with light green leaves with yellow spots.
• Thyme lemon-smelling Bertram Anderson with light green leaves with a yellow border. An unpretentious frost-resistant variety. It grows well in the sun, but can tolerate slight shading. In the shade stretches. Not affected by pests and diseases.

Thyme lemon-smelling: planting and care

Thyme is a light-loving plant that tolerates drought well. Therefore, it is planted on open plots and slopes. The soil should be light, with an admixture of sand. It will pass moisture well, without causing stagnation of water. If the land is fertile, it grows rapidly. The height of plants will be greater, and the blossom will be more luxuriant lemon-smelling thyme.

Care is to remove weeds that can break through near a young plant. Pests are not affected, so treatment with chemicals is not done. Adult plants need to be cut every year to give them a neat appearance. This procedure will make the bush thick and beautiful.

Transplant lemon-smelling thyme can be the whole season of vegetation: in spring, in autumn and even in summer. Watering is necessary in the first year after transplantation.

Reproduction of thyme

The thyme is multiplied by dividing the bush. Thus, you can quickly get a beautiful clearing of fragrant plants. You can use lignified cuttings of thyme lemon-smelling. Planting can be carried out in autumn or spring.

The lemon-smelling thyme breeds and seeds. They can be sown on the site after ripening, without loosening the soil. They will go up next year.

Use in the garden

The use of lemon-smelling thyme is associated with its ability to quickly create fluffy colorful carpets on the site. It is grown on separate free lawns, on alpine hills.

It can be planted next to most bulbous plants, beginning with ephemerals and ending with lilies.

Use in Cooking

Most often when preparing dishes use lemon-smelling and ordinary thyme.

Lemon-smelling thyme is widely used in cooking. In summer it is used fresh, in winter - in dried form. You can freeze the leaves for the winter. This allows you to feel the taste of summer at any time of the year. Add the first (soups, broths) dishes, meat and fish, pates. Several leaves of thyme will make a salad from the usual vegetables much tastier and more useful. Add thyme leaves to the cheese. They also improve the taste of mushroom dishes.

The advantage of thyme lemon-smelling is that it does not lose its flavoring properties during cooking. Therefore, it can be thrown into the dishes even at the beginning of cooking. This is different from other types of seasonings.

Adding thyme leaves to fatty foods, improve digestion and accelerate the digestion of such food. It combines lemon thyme with dishes from potatoes and various kinds of cabbage.

You can not do without thyme when preserving tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers. Together with dill and other herbs, a twig of thyme is placed in a jar with pickles. Dried thyme gives the dishes a special flavor, adds a light bitter taste.

The leaves of thyme, added to the compote, make it possible to get an original and useful drink. Thyme sprigs are thrown into the jam when it is cooked.

Original spirits are obtained by adding shoots and thyme leaves. They make them fragrant, giving a lemon flavor and aroma.

Thyme is a part of spices, made for use with various dishes.

Medicinal properties of thyme

From the harvested raw materials in folk medicine, they prepare infusions, lotions, compresses, decoctions.

The use of lemon-smelling thyme in official and folk medicine is associated with the presence in its composition of a very strong antibiotic carvacrol, which can fight with Staphylococcus aureus. In the thyme raw material contains up to 2 percent of essential oils, contain thymol, linalol. They are used to fight microbes, fungi, bacteria.

For treatment of bronchitis and diseases of the upper respiratory tract, a lemon-smelling thyme extract is used. Its useful properties are well known. Feedback from users indicates a marked improvement in the state of patients with bronchitis after the application of the drug. It has expectorant effect, dilutes sputum and promotes its excretion. Essential oils help to soften the inflamed parts of the larynx and throat.

Help infusions of thyme in the treatment of inflammation in the throat and mouth, if they are caused by purulent bacteria.

It contains a large number of vitamins, acids, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium and other elements. Therefore, the use of thyme leaves in food improves the general condition of the body. They contribute to the active release of gastric juice.

Tinctures of raw thyme help the intestines to process fatty foods, promote the removal of gases from the body.

Infusions of thyme lemon-smelling leaves help to get rid of joint pain. Improve the condition of the musculoskeletal system, facilitate the condition with radiculitis and other neuralgic diseases. Use compresses made from gruel, prepared from fresh leaves. Mixing it with warm water, apply to a sore point.

Neuroses are treated by adding one drop of essential oil to a teaspoon of honey and taken 3 times a day.

Use inhalations with essential oils and ethyl alcohol. They help get rid of cough and cold.

Use decoctions of thyme leaves for skin diseases. Mix it with olive oil.

They increase blood pressure, improve appetite, sleep. You can use aromatic baths for this. 0.5 kg of raw materials are steamed in several liters of water, boiled for a couple of minutes, insisted and added to the bath.

Contraindications for use

There is a thyme and contraindications. Drugs with it can not be taken by pregnant women, people who have liver and kidneys, insufficient thyroid function. Contraindicated thyme in cardiovascular diseases: atrial fibrillation, pre-infarction, elevated temperature. You can not use these drugs for peptic ulcer.

If an overdose occurs, nausea may be felt.

Preparation and storage of raw materials

Stems and leaves of plants of the first year of life are not harvested. Collect raw materials from the bushes of the second year. Leaves, flowers and stems of thyme are dried in the fresh air, sheltering from the sun's rays. You can do this in a room where there is good ventilation. Then they put it into storage. To ensure that the essential oils do not evaporate, the raw materials are stored in clogged glass jars, foil packages.

When harvesting raw materials, thyme leaves do not grind, otherwise the amount of essential oils will significantly decrease. This will manifest itself in the absence of smell.

When the thyme raw material dries, its weight decreases, and the amount of essential oils remains approximately the same. Therefore, in dry raw materials, they are three times more than in fresh ones. Adding it to different dishes, take it into account. Dried and chopped leaves need to take three times more than fresh.