43 
T1L1A AMERICANA. 
at the extremities. The sepals are triangular-lanceolate, pubescent outside, and 
woolly within. The petals are longer than the sepals, and are of a yellowish- 
white. The staminodia are obovate-lanceolate, exactly like the petals, but 
smaller. The style is sometimes longer, and at others shorter than the petals, 
and hairy towards the base. The fruit, which ripens in September and October, 
is about the size of a pea, nearly round, and covered with a short, gray pubes- 
cence, usually perfecting but one seed. 
Varieties. The other American limes we regard as nothing more than varie- 
ties of this species, and they may be described as follows : 
1. T. a. laxiflora, Loudon. Loose-cymed-jlowered American Lime-tree. 
The petals of this variety have each a scale at the base, inside ; the leaves are 
cordate, gradually acuminated, serrated, membranaceous, and smooth ; the 
cymes are loose ; the petals emarginate, and shorter than the styles ; and the 
fruit is nearly round. The tree is usually forty or fifty feet in height, and pro- 
duces yellowish-white, sweet-scented flowers, from May to July. This variety 
greatly resembles the Tilia americana, and is essentially the same, except in size. 
2. T. a. pubescens, Loudon. Pubescent-leaved American Lime-tree. This 
variety is of much less vigorous growth than 
the preceding, and seldom exceeds forty feet in 
height. The colour of the bark is dark, and 
the branches are slender. The leaves are 
smaller, and differ widely in size, according to 
the exposure in which they grow. In dry and 
open places, they are only two inches in diam- 
eter ; but in cool and shady situations, they 
are twice the size. They are truncate at the 
base, somewhat cordate, and oblicme, denticu- 
lately serrated, and pubescent beneath ; they 
are most pubescent soon after their first expan- 
sion, but as they increase in size, a part of the 
down falls off, and the hairs which remain 
form little starry tufts. The flowers, which 
resemble those of the Tilia americana, appear, 
in May and June, and vary in size with the 
leaves ; they are more numerous, and form 
larger branches: 
at the base, 
than the style. The fruit is globose and downy. 
3. T. a. pubescens leptophylla, Loudon. Thin-leaved Pubescent American 
Lime-tree, in the United States ; Tilleul de la Louisiane, in France. This vari- 
ety is represented as having very thin leaves, with but few serratures. It is 
said to closely resemble the T. a. pubescens, and is doubtless a sub-variety of 
that race, as it is only found associated with it. 
4. T. a. alba (T. alba, Mich.) White-leaved Lime-tree, White Lime, War- 
hew, in the United States ; Tilleul blanc de V Amerique, Tilleul de Virg-inie, in 
France. This tree usually grows to a height of forty or fifty feet, with a diameter 
of twelve to eighteen inches. On the banks of the Ohio, however, it often rises 
to an elevation of sixty or eighty feet, although, in France, according to the "Nou- 
veau I)u Hamel," it attained the height of twenty feet in seventy years. The 
young branches are covered with a smooth, silver-gray bark, with a rough surface, 
and may readily be distinguished in winter by their thickness and the large size 
of their buds. The leaves are larger than those of any other variety, either Eu- 
ropean or American, being often six or seven inches long, and from three to five 
inches broad. They are obliquely heart-shaped, and pointed like those of all 
, the petals have each a scale 
inside, as in the other varieties; 
they are emarginate, and shorter 
