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Thymus glabrescens; photograph Lis Burke, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SALis Burke, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thymus glabrescens Willd.

Lamiaceae · Austria, Czechoslovakia +9 · listed by its genus as a temperate garden plant

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

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Thymus glabrescens, photograph LeszySzeptun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThymus glabrescens, photograph Joanna Boisse, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThymus glabrescens, photograph Joanna Boisse, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThymus glabrescens, photograph Joanna Boisse, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThymus glabrescens, photograph Joanna Boisse, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThymus glabrescens, photograph Joanna Boisse, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 8 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-15.0°C
Record low -27.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
565mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
5–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to September and November to December, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Thymus

The thymus is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, T cells mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Thymus", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a temperate garden plant, listed under the genus Thymus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “subshrub”, “temperate”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (400 mm of 560 mm) falls in May to September and November to December, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 13.1 °C against a yearly mean of 9.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to March and May to June.

Rain

560 mm in the median year at the habitat, 400 mm of it May to September and November to December. Wettest month July at 73 mm, driest month February at 27 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 514 mm to 665 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 565 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 560 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 5 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -15.0 °C, the absolute minimum -27.9 °C, 5,294 frost nights in 44 years, 120.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -4.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -4.8 °C to -3.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.7 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -15.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -3 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Thymus in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “subshrub”, “temperate”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Thymus glabrescens through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -4.2 °C; 560 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-40°-20°0°20°40°frost33.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-27.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 5–35RH 56–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 138 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C2 / 1–34 / 3–59 / 8–1014 / 13–1519 / 18–2022 / 21–2325 / 23–2624 / 23–2519 / 18–2014 / 13–157 / 6–83 / 2–3
Night °C-4 / -5–-4-3 / -4–-30 / -1–14 / 3–59 / 8–1013 / 11–1315 / 14–1615 / 14–1611 / 10–116 / 5–71 / 1–2-3 / -3–-2
Rain mm28 / 25–4227 / 23–4035 / 33–4734 / 31–5062 / 58–7572 / 64–8573 / 67–8564 / 59–7753 / 44–6536 / 32–4939 / 33–5337 / 31–52
DLI7 / 6–812 / 11–1419 / 18–2129 / 28–3034 / 33–3635 / 34–3835 / 33–3730 / 29–3321 / 20–2413 / 13–157 / 7–95 / 5–7
RH %66 / 64–6763 / 61–6460 / 59–6156 / 56–5857 / 56–5857 / 56–5856 / 55–5857 / 56–5859 / 59–6163 / 62–6566 / 64–6867 / 65–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 138 grid cells holding the 382 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 819:3940 (49.025, 17.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -27.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -15.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 138 distinct grid cells holding 382 of the 382 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 819:3940 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 49.00_16.875, lapse-corrected -3 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 241 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the keys of the names Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 7307367 (Thymus glabrescens Willd., 928 records), 8098817 (Thymus serpyllum var. glabrescens (Willd.) Nyman, 0 records), 8270018 (Thymus serpyllum subsp. glabrescens (Willd.) Lyka, 0 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeAustria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, Central European Russia, Ukraine · introduced: Germany · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker49.069, 16.858 · in the densest population, 329 records (66% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 500 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 382 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 417 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 3 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 118 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 7307367 (Thymus glabrescens Willd.): Kew's file holds it as Thymus glabrescens Willd. (accepted); 928 records, from GBIF's download.Records also from GBIF's key 8098817 (Thymus serpyllum var. glabrescens (Willd.) Nyman): Kew's file holds it as Thymus serpyllum var. glabrescens (Willd.) Nyman (illegitimate under Thymus glabrescens Willd.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.Records also from GBIF's key 8270018 (Thymus serpyllum subsp. glabrescens (Willd.) Lyka): Kew's file holds it as Thymus serpyllum subsp. glabrescens (Willd.) Lyka (synonym under Thymus glabrescens Willd.); 0 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 500 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Thymus glabrescens, photograph 1did not loadThymus glabrescens, photograph 2did not loadThymus glabrescens, photograph 3did not loadThymus glabrescens, photograph 4did not loadThymus glabrescens, photograph 5did not loadThymus glabrescens, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: LeszySzeptun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Joanna Boisse, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (5).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Cytisus procumbens Cytisus procumbens Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Patrick HackerCarex secalina Carex secalina Rye sedge Photo: CC BY, Christoph MoningPulsatilla grandis Pulsatilla grandis Greater Pasque Flower Photo: CC BY, fmunozAchillea pannonica Achillea pannonica Hungarian yarrow Photo: CC BY, Viktor StrenadaMuscari tenuiflorum Muscari tenuiflorum Asparagaceae Photo: CC BY, Pavel KaclRapistrum perenne Rapistrum perenne Steppe cabbage Photo: CC BY, Stanislav Murashkin

Other Thymus 43 in the reference

Thymus alpestris Thymus alpestris Wild Thyme Photo: CC BY, Marek Hrušovský Thymus altaicus Lamiaceae Thymus argaeus Lamiaceae Thymus baeticus Thymus baeticus Spanish Lemon Thyme Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz Thymus brachychilus Lamiaceae Thymus caespititius Thymus caespititius Azores thyme Photo: CC BY, Michael, Antoni and Nihat HinczewskiThymus calcareus Thymus calcareus Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Aleksei BaushevThymus camphoratus Thymus camphoratus Camphor Thyme Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradeThymus capitellatus Thymus capitellatus Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, zebedeugalinhaThymus carnosus Thymus carnosus Portuguese Thyme Photo: CC BY, Dmitry TrutskoThymus × citriodorus Thymus × citriodorus Lemon thyme Photo: CC BY, Julien LepageThymus comosus Thymus comosus Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Ghislain118 (AD)… all 44 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Thymus serpyllum subsp. glabrescens; Thymus serpyllum var. glabrescens. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidata

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
Willd.
Native to
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary +8
Wild records
500 in range · 417 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Thymus glabrescens Willd. (plant_name_id 204784), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 928 records of GBIF's key 7307367, Thymus glabrescens Willd. (Kew's file holds it as Thymus glabrescens Willd. (accepted)): the GBIF download; 0 records of GBIF's key 8098817, Thymus serpyllum var. glabrescens (Willd.) Nyman (Kew's file holds it as Thymus serpyllum var. glabrescens (Willd.) Nyman (illegitimate under Thymus glabrescens Willd.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 0 records of GBIF's key 8270018, Thymus serpyllum subsp. glabrescens (Willd.) Lyka (Kew's file holds it as Thymus serpyllum subsp. glabrescens (Willd.) Lyka (synonym under Thymus glabrescens Willd.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 14 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 6 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 49.00_16.875, lapse-corrected -3 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 461191-1, POWO 461191-1
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 18 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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