LIME PLANT. 



LIME TREE. 



LIME PLANT. A name applied in the 

 Northern and Eastern States to the indigenous 

 plant called in the Middle States May Apple 

 (Podophyllum peltatum). 



LIMESTONE. A generic term for those 

 varieties of carbonate of lime which are neither 

 crystallized nor earthy; the former being cal- 

 careous spar, the latter chalk; when burned, they 

 yield quick-lime. See GEOLOGY, CHALK, LIME. 



LIME TREES (Tilia}. These are for the 

 most part ornamental, lofty-growing trees, well 

 suited for avenues and parks. They thrive in 

 any soil, and are increased by layers or seeds ; 

 if by layers, the tree must be cut down close 

 to the ground, and from its roots a great num- 

 ber of shoots are produced in the following 

 year : these will be strong enough to lay down 

 the succeeding autumn. Trees raised from 

 seed are far preferable to those raised from 

 layers. The Russian bass-mats are made from 

 the inner bark of the lime tree, while the wood, 

 from its being light and white, is much used 

 by the carver and musical instrument maker. 



The charcoal is used in the manufacture of 

 gunpowder, and is considered as scarcely infe- 

 rior for that purpose to the charcoal produced 

 from the alder and willow. If we possess no 

 evidence sufficiently conclusive to prove that 

 the lime tree in any of its forms is truly indi- 

 genous in Britain, we have at least enough to 

 show that it has long been naturalized, and that 

 its introduction must have taken place at a 

 very distant period ; for, upon referring to the 

 earlier works, such as Turner, Gerard, &c., 

 we find it (in the form of T. E. microphylla) 

 spoken of as a well-known, and in their esti- 

 mation, apparently, as a native tree. By many 

 botanists (says Mr. Selby), several species of 

 lime are enumerated as inhabitants of Europe; 

 andSirJ.E. Smith makes three distinct species 

 of those cultivated and grown in Britain; viz., 

 T. Europcea, T. grandifolia, and T. parvifolia, the 

 two latter answering to the T. platyphylla and 

 T. microphylla of other authors. We are, how- 

 ever, continues Mr. Selby, inclined to adopt the 

 views and follow the opinion of the author of 

 the Arboretum Britannicum, and to consider these 

 not as specifically distinct from T. Europcea, in 

 its usual form, but as marked varieties, or, as 

 Mr. Loudon designates them, races, originally 

 produced from the seed of one, and which have 

 been kept distinct, and perpetuated by means 

 of layers, grafting, and other artificial modes 

 of propagation-, a view we think strongly cor- 

 roborated by the fact that the seeds of the dif- 

 ferent kinds, or supposed species," do not always 

 produce plants exactly similar to the trees from 

 which they are gathered, but run into varieties, 

 the seed of T. E. platyphylla often producing 

 plants similar in every respect to those of T. 

 Europcp.a (the common lime), and so with the 

 other kinds. 



The lime tree appears to have been held in 

 repute in ancient as well as in modern times ; 

 for we learn from Theophrastus that it was 

 known to the Greeks ; and Pliny speaks of it 

 as a tree held in high esteem by the Romans, 

 not only for the ornament and shade it afforded, 

 but for the qualities of its wood, and the various 

 purposes to which it was adapted. Nearly two 

 hundred years have elapsed since it was plant- 

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' ed along the streets of continental as well as 

 English towns, where their width would admit 



I of it, as affording a pleasant shade and protec- 

 tion during the summer heats, and it was ex- 



! tensively used in that style of gardening called 

 architectural, as it bore cutting with the knife 

 or shears with patience and comparative im- 

 punity. Examples of this style still exist in 

 some parts of England, and are frequent upon 

 the Continent, in France and Holland, where 

 pyramids, arches, and colonnades are formed 

 of this tree, and sometimes these produce an 

 imposing effect. As an ornamental tree in 

 picturesque gardening, the lime is well worth 

 cultivating, as it ranks in the first class in point 

 of magnitude, frequently attaining a height of 

 eighty or ninety feet, and a trunk corresponding 

 in circumference to such an altitude. The 

 lime holds an important place in the Materia 

 Medica of France and other continental coun- 

 tries ; but its medicinal powers are very feeble. 

 Loudon, in his Encyclopaedia of Plants, enu- 

 merates eight species or varieties of the linden 

 or lime tree (Tiliacece). 1. Tilia rubra, the red 

 or common linden. 2. T. intermedia, or inter- 

 mediate. 3. T. parvifolia, or small-leaved. 



4. Platyphylla, or broad-leaved. All these are 

 found indigenous in the woods of Britain. 



5. T. Americana, American lime or linden. 

 (See BASS-WOOD.) 6. T. pubescens, downy and 

 thin-leaved lime tree. 7. T. heterophylla, or 

 various-leaved lime tree. The three last-named 

 species are indigenous to North America. 8. T. 

 alba vel argentia, the white or silver linden, 

 which is stated to be a native of Hungary. 



Michaux has described the three American 

 species of lime tree, one of which has been al- 

 ready referred to under its common name of 

 Bass-wood. The American white lime is doubt- 

 less a distinct species from the Tilia alba of 

 Hungary. 



"I have not," says Michaux, "met with the 

 white lime tree east of the river Delaware, but 

 it is abundant in Pennsylvania, Maryland, De- 

 laware, and the Western States. It does not 

 grow, like the preceding species, in elevated 

 places, nor amidst other trees in the forests, 

 and is rarely seen except on the banks of rivers. 

 I have particularly observed it on those of the 

 Susquehanna, the Ohio, and the streams which 

 empty into them. 



"The height of the white lime tree rarely 

 exceeds forty feet, and its diameter twelve or 

 eighteen inches. Its young branches are co- 

 vered with a smooth, silver-gray bark, by which 

 it is recognised in the winter. The leaves are 

 very large, denticulated, obliquely heart-shaped 

 and pointed, of a dark-green on the upper sur- 

 face, and white beneath, with small reddish 

 tufts on the angles of the principal nerves. 

 This whitish tint is most striking on solitary 

 trees exposed to the sun. 



" The flowers come out in June, and, as well 

 as the floral leaf, are larger than those of any 

 other lime tree with which I am acquainted. 

 The petals are larger and whiter, and are im- 

 pregnated with an agreeable odour. The seeds 

 are round, or rather oval, and downy. 



" The wood of this tree is white and tender, 

 and I believe it is never employed in the arts. 



"This and the following species have re- 



