Thyme essential oil
- Type
- Essential oil
- Botanical name
- Thymus vulgaris; Thymus zygis
- Other names
- red thyme oil
The plants
Thymus vulgaris, Thymus zygis and Thymus willdenowii are the most important thyme species and grow in the western Mediterranean. Garden thyme is a bushy evergreen subshrub with small, highly aromatic grey-green leaves and clusters of purple or pink flowers.[2]
How the oil is made
The oil is obtained by distillation of the flowering plant.[1] Red thyme oil, the natural distillate of the trade, is water-and-steam distilled from the partly dried herb. White thyme oil should be red thyme oil distilled again, but commercial white thyme oil is often a compound of fractions of other oils and single chemicals such as para-cymene and pinene.[3]
Types and composition
Thyme plants of one species can give oils of very different composition; these recurring types are called chemotypes and are named after their main component. For garden thyme, chemotypes rich in linalool, borneol, geraniol, sabinene hydrate, thymol or carvacrol have been established, and a cluster analysis of oils described in the literature revealed 20 types.[4] In Thymus zygis, a study of 21 populations distinguished seven main chemotypes.[2]
Thymol and carvacrol are commonly regarded as the main active components of thyme oil. The international standard ISO 19817:2017 for thyme oil of the thymol type, from Thymus vulgaris and Thymus zygis, requires 35 to 55% thymol.[2]
Scent and uses
Red thyme oil smells rich and powerful, sweet, warm-herbaceous, somewhat spicy and distinctly aromatic. It is used widely to flavour foods such as sauces, dressings, pickles and canned meat; it is added as a germicidal ingredient to mouthwashes, gargles, toothpastes and disinfectants, and it is added with peppermint and eucalyptus to cough syrups and lozenges.[3]
Thyme oil and thymol are also ingredients of some medicines, such as antiseptic and healing ointments, syrups for respiratory disorders and preparations for inhalation. Even so, as of 1999 no medicinal use of thyme was supported by clinical data.[5]
In perfumery it is used to scent soap, adding a slightly medicinal note, and in tiny amounts it gives richness and sweet freshness to lavender and citrus colognes and spicy aftershaves. Because thymol is a phenol, the oil discolours quickly in contact with iron.[3]
Quality and adulteration
In the 1960s thyme oil was not infrequently adulterated or contaminated with origanum oil, and lots of origanum oil were sometimes offered under the name of thyme oil.[3]
Safety
Thyme oil of the thymol type irritates the skin and the mucous membranes.[6] Thymol is a phenol,[3] and oils rich in phenols should always be diluted before they are applied to the skin. Thyme oil of the thymol type should not be used in the bath at all.[6]
Products containing it
- Body Cream With Thyme Oil (I 875)
- Long Life “Water” Oil Blend (E 129)
- Oral Hygiene Concentrate (E 157)
- Thyme Essential Oil (E 116)
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 United States Pharmacopeia, Food Chemicals Codex, Thyme Oil, 2008: Description.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Karim Etri et al., Exploring Chemical Variability in the Essential Oils of the Thymus Genus. Plants 2024, 13(10), 1375, doi 10.3390/plants13101375.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Steffen Arctander, Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin, Elizabeth, NJ, 1960: Thyme Oil.
- ↑ Prabodh Satyal et al., Essential Oil Characterization of Thymus vulgaris from Various Geographical Locations. Foods 2016, 5(4), 70, doi 10.3390/foods5040070.
- ↑ World Health Organization (WHO), WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants, Volume 1. Geneva, 1999: Herba Thymi.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA), Safety. Retrieved 8 November 2026.