Cushion-forming, low shrub becoming very woody at the base. Young stems prostrate, rooting eventually at the nodes, not markedly angled, covered all round with tiny hairs. Leaves thickish, with inconspicuous veins, green to yellow-green, 6-10 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, narrowly spoon-shaped, widening slightly to a sheathing base, glabrous except for conspicuous, sparse 1 mm cilia on the margins. Bracts like the leaves but smaller. Flowering heads few-flowered, with flowers single in the axils. Calyx green; lower lip with narrowly triangular ciliate teeth, upper lip concave, round, with 3 tiny teeth. Corolla pale lilac without deeper coloured markings, lower lip 7 mm wide, with 3 equal lobes, the middle one notched; upper lip notched, set at right angles to the lower lip so that the flower looks 3-lobed from above. [T. micans Lowe, T. azoricus Lodd.]

Portugal, SW Spain, Azores

This very distinctive species has been sold as T. integer Nyman, a species from Cyprus with narrow 'rolled under' leaves and relatively large pink flowers (to 15 mm); also as T. richardii Pers. subsp. nitidus (Guss.) Jalas [T. nitidus Guss.] from Sicily, a small shrub with stems hairy all round, leaves to 12 mm long, flowers purple, calyx with dense, stalked glands. A female clone with a distinctive aroma and paler coloured flowers is sold as Orange Peel Thyme.

Cushion-forming, with narrow spoon-shaped leaves bearing prominent marginal cilia; flowers in small heads, upper lip of calyx with only tiny teeth, flowers orientated so as to look 3-petalled.

Source: Lumley, P. (2002). Thymus. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.