TILIACE^ 



Class I Dicotyledons 



Division I Thalamifloroe 



Natural Order . . Tiliacece 



Trees, shrubs, or rarely herbs, with usually alternate, simple, stipulate leaves 

 and regular flowers, hermaphrodite or rarely unisexual, often cymose and 

 protandrous ; Sepals 5, rarely 3-4, often valvate ; Petals usually equal in 

 number to sepals, alternating with them, imbricate, sometimes wanting ; 

 Stamens usually indefinite, filaments free or united in 5-10 bundles, opposite 

 petals, anthers 2-lobed ; Ovary free, sessile, 2-10-celled or more; Fruit dry 

 or pulpy, sometimes 1 -celled. 



Distinguished from Malvaceae by the imbricate petals, the stamens free 

 or slightly united into several bundles, the 2-celled anthers and the united 

 carpels forming a several-celled ovary. 



AMERICAN LIME, Tilia americana. 



Parks, gardens. .July, August. 



The Limes are handsome, lofty-growing trees, inhabiting the temperate 

 regions of the northern hemisphere. Their flowers are noted for their delicious 

 perfume, and the honey is said to excel all other kinds in delicacy of flavour. 

 Their timber has been noted since the days of the Romans for its " thousand 

 uses," and is specially adapted for the purposes of the carver. The liber or 

 inner bark readily separates into thin layers, and constitutes the well-known 

 Russian bast or bass. 



The species prefer a sunny situation and a moist soil, and are not very suitable 

 for dry soils or exposed places. Propagation is usually effected by the layering 

 of shoots in the autumn. 



Flowers yellowish-white, in a cyme; bract 4-5 ins. long, 1-1^ in. broad, 



peduncle glabrous, 3} -4 ins. long, pedicels angled ; Sepals 5, ovate, 



acuminate, pubescent, | in. long; Petals 5, truncate, crenate ; Stamens 



numerous, hypogynous, filaments united in 5 bundles, a staminodium opposite 



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