Thyme

For Women Every New Year from now on, as you fleetingly think of Father Time, I want you also to think of the ancients' "Mother" Thyme. The leaves of this lovely aromatic wild, garden, and window sill plant, now mainly known for culinary flavoring of stews, soups, and stuffings, was once considered an important herbal medicine. Because it was so effective in overcoming uterine problems, it was often called "mother." The leaves and flowering tops can be added to boiling water and steeped to create a sweet, fragrant, yet slightly camphoraceous, almost bitter tea. Don't be put off by the unusual aroma and flavor, for the tea is antiseptic and healing. Even honey made from thyme plants is healing, particularly for coughs and sore throats.

Kunzle In some ways the nineteenth century Swiss herbalist Kunzle has put this herb into his own "thyme" capsule with this brief summary:

Thyme is a low, creeping and lawn forming weed, with little reddish blossoms and an intense, pleasant smell. Used as a tea (only infused), it will refresh the lungs, remove indigestion, flatulence, liver and splenetic complaints, act as a diuretic. Weakly children will be strengthened by Thyme baths. The Mountain Thyme is to be found in great quantities in sunny, dry spots. Bees and bumblebees know it, bugs and vermin avoid it.

With Other Herbs Here is an interesting fact about thyme: It is more effective when used with other herbs. So if you feel the need of perspiration to overcome a budding cold, add thyme to any combination of herbs you might already use as a cold remedy. I would like to suggest, in particular, peppermint with either elderflower and yarrow, or a pinch of ginseng, or a dash of cayenne.

Range of Use The tea has a wide range of medicinal uses and may be quite beneficial in overcoming gastric problems of wind, colic, and even bad breath. (This is usually from bad digestion, if it isn't from decayed teeth.) Gerard liked to use thyme for digestive problems, and suggested boiling wild thyme in wine "against the wamblings and gripings of the belly." Culpeper also claimed that it is a comfort for the stomach. Thyme is also an antiseptic, a first aid, allays fever, is useful for headache, and is a great insect repellent.

Whooping Cough Whooping cough was an enormous problem when I was a child, and I recall my mother and father making up syrups of thyme and honey during one siege. Today I came across a comment from a Finnish journal describing just this attribute of thyme in fighting whooping cough. The Finnish physician author states that fresh thyme tea, using between an ounce and a half to possibly six ounces of the herb a day, plus honey, is a helpful treatment of the disease. Fortunately, most youngsters are now vaccinated against whooping cough.

Sore Throat Thyme tea laced with honey is also often effective in fighting sore throat and post nasal drip. Use a tablespoon several times a day.

Lungs Thyme tea is a reliable folk medicine for the elimination of phlegm, and is helpful in overcoming shortness of breath. Culpeper says, "It is so harmless, you need not fear the use of it."

Fever Last winter one of the students in my herbal medicine class was visiting friends when she discovered that her threeyear old had a high fever. She looked for some herbs in her friend's cupboard and couldn't find anything but poultry seasoning (it had thyme, marjoram, and the like). She made a tea of the seasoning, gave it cold (cold for children's bronchial involvement, please), zipped the child into a sleeping bag, and let him sweat it out. He was fine in a few hours.

Since thyme is even better, medicinally, when mixed with other herbs, for adults add a pinch of ginseng in the case of bad coughing, and such soothing and emollient herbs as marshmallow root tea, slippery elm powder (or tablets), or the slightly butterscotch smelling fenugreek, or comfrey root or leaf tea.

Headache Used cold, thyme can relieve a headache. When thyme tea is taken hot, it is said to be a central nervous system relaxer and, thus, has a folk reputation for warding off nightmares.

First Aid Since thyme is available in almost any store, it can be used liberally as a first aid poultice. Make up a paste of moist (hot moistened) thyme leaves and apply it to the skin to relieve the pain of an abscess, boil, or swelling. A hot poultice of thyme can help to relieve the pain of a sciatic attack, too, The oil from thyme thymol is sometimes used for rheumatic pains and can act like an anesthetic on the skin. Since there is always a possibility of a skin reaction with a strong oil, use cautiously, or combine with olive oil.

Antiseptic M. Grieve, the author of A Modern Herbal, notes "Thymol (oil of thyme) is a powerful antiseptic for both internal and external use; it is also employed as a deodorant and local anaesthetic. It is extensively used to medicate gauze and wool for surgical dressings. It resembles carbolic acid in its action, but is less an irritant to wounds, while its germicidal action is greater. It is, therefore, preferable as a dressing and during recent years has been one of the most extensively used antiseptics."

A long list of the physiological uses of thymol then follows:

As an antiseptic lotion and mouthwash; as a paint in ringworm, in exzema, psoriasis, broken chilblains, parasitic skin affections and burns; as an ointment, half strength, perfumed with lavender, to keep off gnats and mosquitos. Thymol in oily solution is applied to the respiratory passages by means of a spray in nasal catarrh, and a spiritous solution may be inhaled for laryngitis, bronchial affections and whooping cough. It is most useful given in large doses, to robust adults; in capsules, as a vermifuge, to expel parasites, especially the miner's worm; and it has also been used in diabetes and vesical catarrh. Some allergic people may be skin sensitive to thymol.

Insects The ability of thyme' to deter insects was well known by the Greeks who actually used thyme as a fumigator. Certainly it is one of the essentials in the potpourris used for linens. I use it along with lavender in my antimoth concoctions. I make up these blends fresh every summer and I never have any trouble.