Identification of the Thymus spp. of the Mount Ararat, Eastern Turkey: A Brief review

Ararat and the around area forms the central and south end of the Ararat Valley, hemmed in by the massive Mountain Ararat to the west. Greater Mount Ararat is bisected by the border of two Turkish provinces, Ağrı Province whose southern border is shared with the international border of Iran and Iğdır province whose northern border is shared with the international border of Armenia. Though the season is restricted to a few short weeks in some regions, Ararat’s flora is surprisingly diverse including several varieties of orange to red Poppies, rare Iris ( Iris lineolata, Iris iberica subsp. elegantissima), Gladilolus (Gladiolus atroviolaceus), milk vetch (Astraglus distyophysus) and verbascum spp.; best seen between mid -to-late April and May. Like this, Thymus genus is rich in the rigon consisting of some species of which six have been characterized up to date. These are: Thymus fallax Fisch. & Mey., Thymus kotschyanus Boiss. & Hohen. Subsp. glabrescens Boiss., Thymus migricus Klokov & Des.-Shost., Thymus praecox Opiz. Subsp. grossheimii (Ronniger) Jalas. var. grossheimii and Thymus transcaucasicu. The review aims to summurize the wild growing species of the region.

Keywords:

Mount Ararat , Eastern Turkey , Thymus spp. , folk medicine , Kekik