Thymelaea (the sparrow-worts) is a genus of about 30 species of evergreen and in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae, native to the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean region, north to central Europe, and east to central Asia.
Etymology
The genus name
Thymelaea is a combination of the Greek name for the herb
thyme θύμος (thúmos) and that for the
olive ἐλαία (elaía) - in reference to its thyme-like foliage and olive-like fruit; while the English name Sparrow-wort (used by Thomas Green in his 18th century
Universal Herbal) is a translation of the name of the genus
Passerina (in which
Thymelaea was formerly placed), derived from the word
passer "
House sparrow" - given the plants in reference to a perceived similarity of the shape of the fruit to a sparrow's beak.
[ The Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening ed. Chittenden, Fred J., 2nd edition, by Synge, Patrick M. Volume III : Je-Pt. Pub. Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1965. Reprinted 1984. ]
Species
33 species are accepted.
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Thymelaea antiatlantica
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Thymelaea argentata
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Thymelaea aucheri
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Thymelaea broteriana
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Thymelaea bulgarica
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Thymelaea calycina
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Thymelaea cilicica
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Thymelaea × conradiae
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Thymelaea coridifolia
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Thymelaea dioica
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Thymelaea elliptica
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Thymelaea gattefossei
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Thymelaea granatensis
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Thymelaea gussonei
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Thymelaea hirsuta
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Thymelaea lanuginosa
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Thymelaea lythroides
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Thymelaea mesopotamica
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Thymelaea microphylla
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Thymelaea passerina – spurge flax
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Thymelaea procumbens
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Thymelaea pubescens
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Thymelaea putorioides
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Thymelaea ruizii
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Thymelaea salsa
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Thymelaea sanamunda
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Thymelaea sempervirens
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Thymelaea subrepens
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Thymelaea tarton-raira
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Thymelaea tinctoria
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Thymelaea velutina
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Thymelaea villosa
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Thymelaea virescens
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Thymelaea virgata
