Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society (1998), 128: 271–276. With 2 figures Article ID: bt980192 Typification of the name Thymus serpyllum L. (Lamiaceae) KAROL MARHOLD FLS Institute of Botany, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Du ´bravska ´ cesta 14, SK-842 23 Bratislava, Slovak Republic and University of Osnabru ¨ck, Fachbereich Biologie/Chemie, Spezielle Botanik, Barbarastrasse 11, D-49076 Osnabru ¨ck, Germany PAVOL MA ´ RTONFI* FLS Department of Experimental Botany and Genetics, Faculty of Science, P. J. S ˇ afa ´rik University, Ma ´nesova 23, SK-041 54 Kos ˇice, Slovak Republic Received March 1998; accepted for publication May 1998 Lectotypification of the name Thymus serpyllum L. (Lamiaceae) is presented. The name is typified by a specimen from the Burser herbarium (UPS), the only one which corresponds well with the present concept of T. serpyllum and undoubtedly represents original material.  1998 The Linnean Society of London ADDITIONAL KEY WORDS:—historical botany – Labiatae. CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 The typification and discussion of the protologue . . . . . . . . . . . 272 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 INTRODUCTION Linnaeus (1753: 590-591) had a broad conception of Thymus serpyllum which has subsequently resulted in the description of many infraspecific taxa. Briquet (1895) considered Linnaeus’s species to be a complex of five subspecies, but Lyka (1927) reported 21 subspecies and many other infraspecific taxa in Central Europe. A great deal of this variation is currently treated at the level of separate species. At the same time, Thymus serpyllum is a species comprising two subspecies, T. serpyllum subsp. * Correspondence to Dr P. Ma ´rtonfi. Email: martonfi@kosice.upjs.sk 271 0024–4074/98/110271+06 $30.00/0  1998 The Linnean Society of London