72 THE STORY: OF ‘PLANT LIFE 
The Lime grows in plantations, in parks, gardens, 
churchyards, and along the roadside and in hedges in 
fields, and is often used for avenues. It is commonly 
planted also in towns and villages. 
The trunk is tall and erect, with a thick bole, 
buttressed, and gives off many hairy suckers of quick 
growth at the base, having usually many swollen 
knots where they have been cut away. The leaves 
are large, cordate, glabrous, glossy above, hairy only 
in the axils of the veins beneath, which are promi- 
nent, and unequal at the base. 
The flowers arranged in a naked cyme are yellow, 
several flowers being borne upon the peduncles, and 
attached to the cyme is a large leaf-like bract, which 
serves as an aeroplane later to disperse the seeds, 
which are contained in a downy unribbed capsule, 
woody and smooth. 
The Lime grows to a height of 50 ft. 
It is a deciduous tree, coming into leaf in April, 
and shedding its leaves, which turn a saffron yellow, 
in September. 
The flowers appear in June and may be found right 
up till August. 
A well-marked character of the Lime is the sweet 
fragrance of the flowers, which are much visited in 
consequence. The honey is abundant and contained 
within the sepals so that insects of the short-lipped 
type can easily reach it. Rain does not damage the 
honey, as the flowers droop and are further protected 
by the large bract. The numerous stamens ripen 
