Thymus serpylloides Bory subsp. gadorensis (Pau) Jalas

Family: LABIATAE (LAMIACEAE)

Genus: Thymus

Province distribution: Alacant.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Mediterranean (Eastern-Iberian)

Plants protected by law: País Valencià Catalogue.

IUCN Category: NENot evaluated

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Chameophyte.

Habitats: Xero-acanthic shrubs of the mountanous regions, and steppe-grasslands of Ampelodesmos mauritanica. Cushion-forming scrub on more or less stony calcareous soils, in high-elevation, cool, and rainy mountainous areas.

Characteristics: Small shrub up to 20 cm tall, prostrate or ascending. Stems densely covered with short hairs, often reddish. Leaves linear, with revolute margins, tomentose on the underside, and bearing small perpendicular cilia at the base of the petiole. Inflorescences dense, with bracts slightly broader than the leaves. Calyx 4-5 mm, pubescent, with triangular teeth. Corolla white, cream, pink, or reddish.

Observations: It differs from subsp. serpylloides, endemic to the Sierra Nevada, chiefly by its densely hairy stems and by its generally larger calyces, measuring 4-5 mm.