Thymbra spicata
Thymbra spicata, also commonly known as spiked savoury, spiked thymbra, thyme spike and donkey hyssop, is a perennial-green dwarf shrub of the family Lamiaceae, native to Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Iran, having erect stems bearing strongly scented leaves, rich in polyphenols such as rosmarinic acid, carvacrol and different flavonoids.
Description
Thymbra spicata resembles Satureja thymbra in the shape and color of its leaves, and is quite close to it in the color, size, and shape of its flowers. However, the flowers in this shrub are not arranged in nest-like clusters, as in Satureja thymbra, with gaps between them in leaps, but are crowded together in a dense raceme at the top of the stem. The petiole of the plant is extremely long and narrow, long. The plant reaches a height of 2030 cm.The leaves are covered with tiny glandular hairs, and their edges have long cilia. The flowers are bright lilac in color, blossoming between April and June and between June and August. The flowers are arranged at the ends of the stems in dense oval inflorescences that lengthen as they ripen. The plant's leaf glands secrete essential oils, which give to Thymbra spicata its pungent odor. For this reason, the plant is used as a spice, but it is too pungent for making tea.
In Arabic, the plant is known as za'tar sebele, while others call it za'tar farsi. Although the plant is protected under Israeli law, the leaves of the plant are sometimes foraged by the local population between April and June, in preparation for making a spice mixture. In Ottoman Palestine, the flower's pollen was harvested by honey bees in the production of honey.