Tilia × europaea – Lime – Linden

General Information Common Name  Lime, Linden Scientific Name  Tilia × europaea Sun Tolerance  Full Sun Height  15 -50 m (49 - 164 ft) Spread  up to 12 m (up to 40 ft) Growth Rate  Fast Bloom Time  Summer Color  Green, Flower Color  Green Type  Tree Native  Europe, USA

Classification Kingdom  Plantae – Plants Subkingdom  Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants Division  Magnoliophyta - Flowering Plants Class  Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons Subclass  Dilleniidae Order  Malvales Family  Tiliaceae – Linden Family Genus  Tilia L. – Basswood Species  T. × europaea

Tilia × europaea – Lime – Linden

Tilia × europaea commonly known as Lime also known as Linden. It is native to Europe and North America, is a naturally occurring hybrid between Tilia cordata (small-leaved lime) and Tilia platyphyllos (large-leaved lime).  It is one of the tallest broadleaved trees of Europe. It is a large and long living deciduous tree grows 15–50 m (49–164 ft) in height with a trunk up to 2.5 m (8 ft) radius, with oval crown, arching lower branches, and red twigs, is a well-known and well-loved species, particularly in June and July when it is adorned with strongly scented yellowish flowers worked vigorously and noisily b honey-bees. For long it was a tree favored for avenues, but more recently it is less appreciated because of its often fluted and wide-spreading base, bushy unsightly stems (including witches brooms), and large bosses on its bole and base, from which may arise a mass of unwanted shoots.

The twigs are strongly zigzagged and reddish, dull crimson in color. The winter buds ae tinged with red, and have only two visible scales one much larger than the other. The 2-3 in long leaves have toothed margins, are heart-shaped, usually unequal at the base, and are dull green on the upper underneath – which underside is conspicuous when the foliage billows in the wind. Red or pink bud-scales are often associated with the leaves. The foliage is sometimes infested in midsummer with numerous tiny aphids, which exude sticky ‘honey-dew’. The leaves turn yellow or golden in the early autumn.

The yellowish-green bi-sexual flowers are borne in June and July (early summer) in clusters of four to ten on a long main stalk which also carries a narrowly oblong papery bract. Each flower has five green sepals and five greenish-white to yellow petals. The hard round downy seeds ripen in October.

At first the bark is smooth and greyish-green, striped with darker markings, but eventually becomes rough and fissured. It is fibrous and tough, and when young this ‘bast’ can be used for tying bundles of woodland produce. The wood is white smooth, even-grained and soft, much used in the past, and still occasionally, by the wood sculptor, and for hat blocks and piano keys. If felled, Lime copies vigorously. It tolerates lopping and trimming. The tree is rarely planted in woodlands. 

Lime Leaves

Tilia × europaea Leaves in Autumn

Lime Flowers

Tilia × europaea Flowers

Tilia × europaea Fruits

Lime Fruits

Lime Bud

Tilia × europaea Trunk

Lime Trunk

Tilia × europaea – Lime Bark

Lime in Autumn 

Tilia × europaea in Autumn

Lime as Ornamental Tree

Tilia × europaea as Ornamental Plant

Tilia × europaea – Lime – Linden

Tilia × europaea – Lime – Linden

Tilia × europaea – Lime – Linden