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Ghasemi Pirbalouti, Journal of Herbal Drugs, Vol. 6, No. 2: 93-100, 2015
93
1. Introduction
The mint family (Lamiaceae) is one of the largest and
most distinctive families of flowering plants, with about
220 genera and almost 4000 species worldwide. This
family has an almost cosmopolitan distribution. The
Lamiaceae are best known for the essential oils common
to many members of the family. Many biologically
active essential oils have been isolated from various
members of this family. These plants are frequently
aromatic in all parts and include many widely used
culinary herbs, such as thyme. The genus Thymus L.
belongs to the Nepetoideae subfamily of Lamiaceae
family is a well-known aromatic herb and consists of
about 215 species of herbaceous perennials and small
shrubs in the world. The Mediterranean region can be
described as the center of the genus (Jamzad, 2010;
Morales, 2002; Cronquist, 1988). Thymus, with the
common Persian name of “Avishan or Azorbe,” (Safari
et al., 2010) is presented in Iranica flora by 14 species,
including: T. daenensis, T. carmanicus, T. fallax, T.
persicus, T. trautvetteri ,T. kotschyanus, T. pubesens ,T.
nummularius, T. transcaspicus T. eriocalyx, T.
caucasicus, T. migricus, T. transcaucasicus and T.
fedtschenkoi (Mozaffarian, 2008; Naghdi Badi and
Makkizadeh, 2003; Rechinger, 1963–1998) Which T.
carmanicus Jalas., T. daenensis subsp. daenensis Celak.,
and T. daenensis subsp. lancifolius, T. persicus (Roniger
ex Reach. F.), and T. trautvetteri Klokov and Desj.-
Shost. are endemic (Rechinger, 1982).
Journal of Herbal Drug
journal homepage: www.journal.iaushk.ac.ir
An overview on genus Thymus
Abdollah Ghasemi Pirbalouti1,2*, Zohreh Emami Bistghani1, Fatemeh Malekpoor1
1Medicinal Plants Department, Shahrekord Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, 88146, Iran
2Medicinal Plants Program, College of Natural Sciences, Massachusetts University, Amherst, 01003, MA, USA
*Email: ghasemi@iaushk.ac.ir or aghasemipir@psis.umass.edu
ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
The genus Thymus L. belongs to the Lamiaceae family, consist of about 215
species of herbaceous perennials and small shrubs in the world. They
originated from Mediterranean region. This genus is presented in Iranian
flora by 14 species, including: T. daenensis, T. carmanicus, T. fallax, T.
persicus, T. trautvetteri, T. migricus, T. kotschyanus, T. pubesens, T.
nummularius, T. transcaspicus, T. eriocalyx, T. caucasicus, T.
transcaucasicus, and T. fedtschenkoi. Thyme is an aromatic and medicinal
herb that has been widely used in folk medicine, food preservatives and
pharmaceutical preparations. Overall, this genus is one of the most popular
plants throughout the entire world due to its volatile constituents. Thymol
and carvacrol are the major compounds in most of the Thymus essential oils.
The therapeutic potential of thyme rests on contents of thymol, carvacrol,
flavonoids, eugenol, aliphatic phenols as well as luteolin, saponins, and tetra
methoxylated flavones. The essential oil of thyme has antibacterial,
antiseptic, antifungal, anti-parasitic and antioxidant activity.
Type: Review Article
Topic: Medicinal Plants
Received January 5th 2015
Accepted August 15th 2016
Key words:
Lamiaceae
Medicinal plants
Thymol
Carvacrol
Ghasemi Pirbalouti, Journal of Herbal Drugs, Vol. 6, No. 2: 93-100, 2015
94
2. Pharmaceutical importance of Thymus
Overall the aerial parts and volatile constituents of
Thymus are commonly used as medicinal herb. Thyme
has long history of been used in traditional medicine for
treatment of various diseases for instance to treat
respiratory diseases (whooping cough, bronchitis and
asthma), in the form of tea, ointment, tincture, syrup or
by steam inhalation. It is also used to prevent hardening
of the arteries, treatment of toothache, urinary tract
infection and dyspepsia (Hashim and Gamil, 1988). It
also expels fungus from stomach and intestine and it has
ability to increase appetite because of its important
component thymol, which has ability to kill bacteria and
parasites.
Nowadays, thyme has changed from a traditional
herb to a serious drug rational phytotherapy. It is
incredible wellspring of iron, calcium, manganese,
vitamin K and likewise upgrades blood flow and pushes
an invigorating impact for the entire system. This herb
invigorated activity on anxious framework made it as a
cure for physical and mental weakness and additionally
for diminishing insomnia. The remedial potential of
Thymus is due to the presence of flavonoids, thymol,
carvacrol, eugenol, phenols, luteolin and
tetramethoxylated. Its controls numerous valuable
effects, such as, antispasmodic, antimycotic,
mammalian age-delaying properties, bactericides,
antiseptics, antioxidants, anthelmintic properties and has
late been recommended as substitute as cancer
prevention agent (Monira et al., 2012; Omidbaigi, 2009;
Brown, 2002). Moreover, infusion and decoction of
aerial parts of Thymus species are used to produce tonic,
carminative, digestive, antispasmodic, anti-
inflammatory and expectorant and for the treatment of
colds in Iranian traditional medicine (Ghasemi
Pirbalouti, 2009; Nickavar et al., 2005; Zargari, 1989–
1992). Recent studies have shown that Thymus species
have strong antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral,
antiparasitic, spasmolytic and antioxidant activities
(Mozaffarian, 2008; Omidbayg, 2007; Sefidkon, 2002;
Zargari, 1990). On the other hand, Thymus species are
commonly used as herbal tea, flavoring agents
(condiments and spices) because of their biological and
pharmacological properties (Burnett et al., 2005; Stahl-
Biskup and Saez, 2002).
3. Oil constituents of Thymus
So far various researches on essential oil of different
species of Thymus of over the world and in Iran has been
carried out. Previous chemical investigation on Thymus
species have shown the presence of aromatic terpens and
terpenoids, flavonoids, and phenolic acid (Teimouri,
2012; Ebrahimi et al., 2008; Miguel et al., 2004; Stahi-
Biskup et al., 2002; Miri et al., 2002; Kasumov, 1983).
Thymol and carvacrol are the main phenolic compound
of thyme oil. The major nonphenolic compounds were
linalool and p-cymene (Piccaglia and Marotti, 1991).
Sefidkon et al. (2002) in two separate studies
investigated the essential oil of the species of Thymus
and found out that essential oil contains carvacrol,
thymol, gama-terpinene, p-cymene, and borneol.
The different components of essential oils in different
species of Thymus are variable due to hybridization and
polyploidization, despite its rare self-pollination (Lopez-
Pujol et al., 2004). In general, intraspecific hybrids of
the genus Thymus seem to possess intermediate
composition of essential oil in comparison with the
relevant characteristics of the parent plants (Loziene et
al., 2002). Thyme oil contains polyphenolic acid
(oleanic acid, rosmarinic acid, triterpene and caffeic
acid). Thyme oil also contains other components such
as, borneol, gerniol, pinene, linalool, 1-8, cineole,
sabinen, myrcene, and limonene (Rizk, 1986).
4. Cytogenic traits
Chromosomal information is an important key for
taxonomy, phylogeny, evolution, genetics and breeding
in thyme plants. However, the identification of
chromosomes has been difficult in thyme because of the
small chromosome size and the similarity in
chromosome morphology (Ziaei Nasab et al., 2012),
Since Thymus is an out-crossing plant and have inter and
intra species hybridization, so they show
morphologically and genetically variations among
themselves. One of the genetically variations in Thymus
is the number of chromosomes that it is clearly
detectable. Overall chromosomal information Thymus
genus represents two ploidy levels (diploid and
tetraploid) and five different chromosome numbers:
2n=2x= 28, 30, and 2n= 4x= 54, 56, and 58 (Lopez et
al., 2004).
In other work, T. praecox was considered as a species
with various chromosome numbers of 24, 28, 50, 54, 56,
and 58 (Fernandes et al., 1984). The mean value of
Ghasemi Pirbalouti, Journal of Herbal Drugs, Vol. 6, No. 2: 93-100, 2015
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chromosomes total length (TL) was varied from 1.625
mm in T. kotschyanus (Bahrini, 2002) to 0.849 in T.
daenensis (Baytop, 1997). The mean value of
chromosomes long arm (LA) and short arm (SA) was
varied from 0.957, 0.669 mm in T. kotschyanus (Bahrini,
2002) to 0.479 and to 0.370 in T. daenensis respectively
(Baytop, 1997). The chromosome number of different
populations of T. daenensis were different (2n=2x=30
and 2n=4x=60) but among populations of T.
kotschyanus, T. pubescens and T. carmanicus were the
same (2n=4x=60) and T. fallax with one population was
diploid (2n=2x=30).
5. Antimicrobial activity
Recent studies have shown that Thymus species have
antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activities
(Rahimmalek et al., 2009; Jordan et al., 2009; Bassam
et al., 2004). The anti-bacterial characteristic of Thymus
spp. is due to the occurrence of thymol in this genus.
This substance can be used as a disinfectant. Previous
studies showed that the essential oil and extract from T.
daenensis exhibited antimicrobial activities against
Candida albicans (Ghasemi Pirbalouti et al., 2009a),
Listeria monocytogenes (Ghasemi Pirbalouti et al.,
2009b), Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli
(Ghasemi Pirbalouti et al., 2010a), Staphylococcus
aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
Klebsiella pneumoniae (Ghasemi Pirbalouti et al.,
2010b), Escherichia coli O157:H7 (Ghasemi Pirbalouti
et al., 2010c), and Saprolegnia parasitica (Ghasemi
Pirbalouti et al., 2009c).
6. Ecological requirement
These species are heliophylous plants and like the sun, a
fact which reflects the ecology of the genus. Thyme
grows well in a temperate to warm, dry, sunny climate,
and where the plants are not shaded (Table 1). It needs
full sun to grow to its best potential. Thymus plants
frequently live on rocks or stones and it is very important
that the soils are well drained. Thyme prefers light, well-
drained soils with a pH of 5 to 8. Thyme species do best
in coarse, rough soils that would be unsuitable for many
other plants. Although thyme grows easily, especially in
calcareous light, dry, stony soils, it can be cultivated in
heavy wet soils, but it becomes less aromatic. But
different Thymus species require very different
substrata. Thymes are very resistant plants, which allows
them to live under extreme climatic conditions
concerning temperature and water supply. They do not
avoid either cold or aridness. Vegetation period of this
plant is 200-210 days. In appropriate conditions, it
germinates after 4-5 days. 40-50 days after vegetation,
the plant flowers and as soon as the flowers are opened
and before seed formation, it is harvested.
T. daenensis Celak.
The Persian and local names of T. daenensis are
‘‘Avishan-e-denaee’’ and ‘‘Ooshon-e-kohi’’,
respectively (Ghasemi Pirbalouti, 2009; Mozaffarian,
2006). A perennial dwarf shrub native plant to semi-arid
zones and generally grows in high altitude places in the
high altitudes in Zagros Mountains range, western and
south western Iran. This plant is considered as an
aromatic and medicinal plant. The aerial parts of T.
daenensis are commonly used as spices, condiments and
flavoring agents (Nickavar et al., 2005; Zargari, 1990;
Rechinger, 1982). it is recognized from other species by
its narrow leaves (Bahrini, 2002). The essential oil and
extracts from the aerial parts of T. daenensis contains
mainly monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, phenolic
compounds and flavniods (Ghasemi pirbalouti et al.,
2011). Earlier studies have identified thymol, carvacrol,
p-cymene and γ − terpinene as the major constituents
of the essential oils of T. daenensis (Ghasemi pirbalouti
et al., 2013). The essential oil and extracts isolated from
T. daenensis have been shown to have biological and
pharmacological activities, including anti-bacterial
(Ghasemi Pirbalouti et al., 2013). Previous studies
(Ghasemi Pirbalouti et al., 2011) on the antimicrobial
activity of the essential oils of T. daenensis showed that
this specie which possess large quantities of phenolic
monoterpenes, have shown activity against viruses,
bacteria, food-derived microbial strains and fungi.
T. pubescens Boiss. & Kotschy ex Celak.
T. pubescens is (Avishan-e-korkaloud) that grows
wildly and abundantly in the North and North-West of
Iran (Rechinger, 1982). It is a perennial plant widely
spread out in Iran and Turkey. This plant has low shrubs
with woody based stems and recumbent to upright
(Zargari, 1990). The flower branch is 2 to 13 cm. The
flowers are red or purple-blue and are 5 to 8 mm and
flowering begins from spring until summer (Jamzad,
2009). T. pubescens has been used by the local people as
a food additive, and as herbal remedy for gastro-
intestinal disorders. There are several reports on the
chemical compositions of T. pubescens from different
Ghasemi Pirbalouti, Journal of Herbal Drugs, Vol. 6, No. 2: 93-100, 2015
96
parts of Iran available to date (Askari et al., 2002). All
those previous reports indicated thymol, carvacrol,
p-cymen and ɣ–terpinene as the major components in
the oils. In other study the main compounds in the T.
pubescens oil were found to be carvacrol (32.1%),
thymol (19.1%) and α-terpineol (14.6%) (Morteza-
Semnani et al., 2006). There are evidences that within
the genus Thymus, chemical polymorphism of the
essential oils is a widespread phenomenon, and more
than 20 essential oil chemotypes exist in different
species of the genus Thymus (Stahl-Biskup, 1991).
Table 1. Climatic and planting requirements of Thymus genus
Temperature
Warm, dry, sunny climate, and where the plants are not shaded.
Rainfall
Does not like excessive moisture because of its susceptibility to rot diseases. Suitable is 500 to
1000 mm per year
Soil requirements
Light, well-drained soils with a pH of 5,0 to 8,0
Planting season
Transplant cuttings: in spring
Propagation
Seeds, stem cuttings, and layering
Irrigation
Drip and overhead irrigation are suitable, but do not over-irrigate.
Spacing
15 to 30 cm apart in the row with a row width of 60 cm.
Reference (Department Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Republic of Africa), (2012).
T. caramanicus Jalas
T. caramanicus Jalas, is an endemic species grown in
Iran. Kermanian thyme is a wooden plant, perennial
and Grey colored with C3 metabolism system that will
be 25-50 cm tall depending the climate of growth
region and soil quality (Zargari, 1990). At present
time, this plant is cultivated in medium scale in Iran,
showing antibacterial, antimycotic, antioxidative,
natural food preservative, and mammalian age
delaying properties (Stahl-Biskup and Saez, 2002). In
Iranian folk medicine, leaves of this plant are used in
treatment of rheumatism, skin disorders and as an
antibacterial agent (Zargari, 1990). The major
constituent of essential oil and extract from the aerial
parts of this plant are carvacrol, thymol, p-cymene, γ-
terpinene and borneol respectively (Safaei-Ghomi,
2009). The beneficial health properties of thymol and
carvacrol as main components of T. caramanicus have
encouraged us to look into its anticancer activity.
T. fallax Fisch Mey
T. fallax Fisch Mey,is a pleasant smelling perennial
shrub, which grows in several regions of the world
such as Western Mediterranean, Southern Italy, Iran,
and Turkey (Baytop, 1997; Davis, 1982). T. fallax, a
perennial shrub by plant that grows on rocky slopes
and grassy areas at 1400-2500 m. Thyme is used for
seasoning, poultry, soups, and vegetables in herbal teas
prepared for colds and flues as well. Thyme and its oil
have been used as fumigants, antiseptics, antioxidants,
and mouth washes (Gulluce et al., 2007).
T. kotschyanus Boiss. & Hohen
T. kotschyanus is a perennial plant. It grows up to 20cm
of height. On the small wooden branches, dark, green
sharp and pointy leaves grow. The aromatic leaves are
used as spice and medicine. The white flowers are
scented. This species grows in mountainous regions
and although is dispersed almost all over the world, but
actually accumulates in Mediterranean region. This
species has the largest dispersion in Iran (Damavand
region) (Jamshidi et al., 2006). In a study, pulegone
(18.7%), isomenthone (17.8%), and thymol (14.9%)
were the main constituents in T. kotschyanus (Morteza-
Semnani et al., 2006). Aminzadeh et al., (2010)
reported in this species the percentage of the carvacrol
and the altitude of the region have a direct and
significant effect with the plant height. The altitude of
the region, organics percentage, SAR has a direct and
significant effect on thymol and the percentage of
nitrogen and CaCo3 have a negative relationship with
the changes of thymol.
T. transcaspicus
T. transcaspicus is an aromatic and medicinal plant,
which it has been widely distributed in the north of
Khorasan Razavi province, Iran, and southern areas of
Turkmenistan as reported by Rechinger (1982). This
plant has antifungal activities According to a previous
Ghasemi Pirbalouti, Journal of Herbal Drugs, Vol. 6, No. 2: 93-100, 2015
97
reports. Thymol, carvacrol, γ terpinene and p-cymene
are the major components of the oil of the aerial parts
of this plant (Miri et al., 2002). Thirty-eight
constituents, representing 98.59% of the total
components in the oil of T. transcaucasicus were
characterized by thymol (60.61%) and p-cymene
(9.32%) as the main compounds, followed by
carvacrol (4.61%), 1,8-cineole, (3.08%) and
pentacosane (3.17%). Monoterpenes comprised
91.34%, while sesquiterpenes consisted of 3.48% of
the oil.
T. persicus
Thymus persicus (Ronniger ex Rech.) Jalas is an
endemic species which is distributed in restricted
regions of the northwest of Iran including Zanjan and
West Azerbaijan provinces (Jamzad, 2009; Rechinger,
1982). Morphologically, T. persicus is well
differentiated in the genus Thymus by the small leaves
width among Thymus species with long non-glandular
and shorts-talked glandular hairs. The major
constituents of T. persicus are thymol (10.71%),
carvacrol (25.71%), ɣ-terpinene (5.63%), α-pinene
(1.14%), β-pinene (1.02%), limonene (11.65%) trans-
sabinene hydrate (7.78%), and 1-borneol
(4.07%)(Sefidkon et al., 2002). In other study the
major compounds in T. persicus oil were found to be
carvacrol (39.0% and 27.1%), geraniol (15.7% and
9.4%), p-cymene (7.5% and 10.2%), and thymol (6.5%
and 11.9%) before flowering and at the full flowering
stage, respectively (Sefidkon et al., 2002).
T. vulgaris
T. vulgaris is a perennial with a woody, fibrous root.
The stems are numerous, round, hard, branched, and
usually from 4 to 8 inches high, when of the largest
growth scarcely attaining a foot in height. The leaves
are small, only about 1/8 inch long and 1/16 inch
broad, narrow and elliptical, greenish-grey in color,
reflexed at the margins, and set in pairs upon very
small foot-stalks. The flowers terminate the branches
in whorls. The calyx is tubular, striated, closed at the
mouth with small hairs and divided into two lips, the
upper most cut into three teeth and the lower into two.
The entire plant smells pleasantly aromatic. The seeds
are small round nuts, often carried away by ants and
sometimes planted on ant hills, maybe to protect
against disease-carrying pathogens (Hoffman, 2003).
The plant has an agreeable aromatic smell and a warm
pungent taste. The fragrance of its leaves is due to an
essential oil, which gives it its flavoring value for
culinary purposes, and is also the source of its
medicinal properties. It is in flower from May to
August (Hoffman, 2003).
Table 2. Properties of thymol and carvacrol
Thymol
Carvacrol
Name
2-isopropyl-5-methylphenol
5-isopropyl-2-methylphenol
Color
white-colored crystalline
white-yellow
Molecular Structural
Molecular Weight
150.22
150.21
Boil point
233 C0
236-237 C0
Refractive index
1.522 in 20 C0
1.5209 in 20 C0
Solvent
Alcohol and organic solvents
Alcohol and organic solvents
Ghasemi Pirbalouti, Journal of Herbal Drugs, Vol. 6, No. 2: 93-100, 2015
98
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