THE LINDEN. 



Ti'lia europen'a L. 



Several forms of the Linden were lumped together 

 by Linnaeus under the scientific name Tilia europcea. 

 Though these have been so extensively planted in 

 England during the last two centuries as to be 

 familiar to most people, only two of them, the 

 Small-leaved Linden, T. corda'ta Mill., and the Large- 

 leaved Linden, T. platyphyl'los Scop., have any 

 claim to be trulv indigenous. The latter is confined 

 to rocky woods in West Yorkshire, Radnorshire, and 

 Herefordshire. 



The genus, being confined to Northern Asia, 

 America, and parts of Europe, would probably not 

 have been known to the primitive Aryan race in 

 their ancestral home in the uplands of Central Asia, 

 so that their descendants have no common name for 

 it. It was the Phi'lyra of the Greeks, whilst the 

 Romans named it Tilia; and the Teuton, perhaps 

 aware of the tough "bast," or inner bark, remind- 

 ing him of the " lin," or " lint " i.e. the Flax (Li'num) 

 named it also "linta," " linde," or "lind." Of 

 these three names, the first is Old German, and 

 the second is Modern, whilst the third is common to 

 Early English, Swedish, and Icelandic. The modern 

 name, Lime, is merely a corruption of Line, and 

 belongs properly to the Sweet Lime, a species of 

 Ci'trus, closely related to the Lemon. 



32 89 



