Flora of New Zealand Series

basil thyme

Hairy (sometimes densely so) annual or short-lived perennial. Stems ascending to c. 20 cm, often purplish. Lvs petiolate or subsessile. Lamina 7-15 × 3-5 mm, elliptic or rhombic-ovate, entire or distantly serrulate, becoming almost glabrous below; base narrow-cuneate; apex acute or subacute. Fls shortly pedicellate, forming a loose terminal infl. of a few whorls. Calyx c. 5 mm long; tube constricted near the middle, gibbous below; nerves white-pilose; teeth subulate, 1-1.5 mm long, ciliate, much < tube. Corolla 7-9 mm long to apex of upper lip, densely puberulent outside, mauve or violet with white patch on lower lip; upper lip curving forward, emarginate; lower lip c. 1.5 mm long, very broad. Nutlets 1.2-1.5 mm long, obscurely angled.

S.: inland Marlborough (upper Awatere Valley), Canterbury (intermontane areas between the Rakaia R. and Waimakariri R.).

Europe, Asia Minor 1870

Low tussock grassland and among rocks, local.

FL Dec-Feb.

Basil thyme has been previously known in N.Z. as Calamintha acinos and Satureja acinos.