TILIA 



595 



long leaf-stalks, and the short, broad, grooved fruit. It appears to have 

 been introduced to Britain about 1840, and was for long known in nurseries 

 as " T. americana pendula " a name which should be dropped, as the tree has 

 not the least connection with T. americana, either botanically or geo- 

 graphically. One of the most beautiful of limes, it should be planted in place 

 of the common lime, which is too abundant. There is a good specimen at 

 Kew which flowers every year in late July and August, and whose fragrance 



TlLIA PETIOJLARIS, 



is then perceptible yards away. Bees find something narcotic in the flowers, 

 as they may be se.en in the evenings lying in scores beneath the tree, and 

 many do not recover. 



T. PLATYPHYLLOS, Scopoli. 



A tree of the largest size, 100 ft. or more high, with a straight, clean 

 trunk, and a shapely, rounded head of branches ; young shoots downy. 

 Leaves roundish heart-shaped, occasionally oblique, 2 to 5 ins. long, nearly 

 or quite as much wide; shortly taper-pointed, sharply toothed, dark green 

 and slightly downy above, densely so beneath, especially on the veins and 

 midrib; stalk downy, \- to 2 ins. long. Flowers yellowish white, produced 

 in late June, usually in three- -but sometimes six-flowered, lax, pendent cymes, 

 3 or 4 ins. long. Floral bracts 2 to 5 ins. long, \ to ij ins. wide; downy, 

 especially on the midrib and behind. Fruit somewhat pear-shaped, \ to \ in. 

 long, prominently five-ribbed, downy. 



Native of Europe, especially the central and southern part. Although not 

 so commonly grown in England as T. vulgaris, it is a more shapely and 

 cleaner grown tree. The trunk does not produce the numerous swollen 

 burrs covered with adventitious buds that are so characteristic of T. vulgaris. 

 From T. vulgaris and T. cordata this lime is easily distinguished by its 

 larger downy leaves, the downy shoots, and the larger five-ribbed fruit. These 



