LIME TREE 



G.N. 872 



LIME TREE 



Tilia vulgaris Heyne: synonyms, T. europcea Linn.; T. cordata Mill. 

 Tiliacese. 



A diffuse-pored wood of medium hardness and weight. Colour white 

 or ecru, uniform. A sapwood tree. 



Transverse section. Compare Fig. 3. Boundary a single continuous 

 row of vessels little if any larger than those of the Autumn wood. 

 Parenchyma not visible with lens, dispersed throughout the fibres. 

 Vessels very small (lens or to good sight), evenly distributed : diminishing 

 a little in the outside of the pore-ring. 



Rays visible, very fine, rather irregular in size and spacing: direct (not 

 avoiding the vessels): brown, lighter in colour than the ground: multi- 

 seriate. 



Radial section. Boundaries fairly clear : vessels visible but very fine, 

 septa absorbed, no grids: rays obscure yet visible (especially when wetted), 

 pale brown. 



Tangential section. As the radial, but the boundaries are much clearer 

 though rarely prominent : vessels very fine, but visible : rays (lens) ; no 

 half-tone effect. 



May be confused with: 



Willow (light weight: uniseriate 

 rays). 



Poplar (uniseriate rays which 

 are sinuous in transverse section, 

 i.e. as though wriggling between 

 the vessels). 



Birch (medium coarse grain: 

 vessels in oblique lines in trans- 

 verse section and rather widely 

 isolated from one another (Fig. 2) : 

 little difference in size between 

 Spring and Autumn vessels: grids 

 in the vessels). 



Tulip-tree (rays very clear in 

 transverse section being visible 

 even at arm's length: boundary 

 a fine whitish line: uniseriate rays 

 very rare). 



Sycamore (rays in transverse 

 section, visible at arm's length: in 

 tangential section they produce a 

 half-tone effect). 



May be distinguished by: 



Medium weight: chiefly multi- 

 seriate rays; many uniseriate. 



Multiseriate rays which are 

 visible in transverse section and 

 are direct not wriggling. 



Fine grain: vessels in short 

 curves at times but never in oblique 

 lines passing across the whole 

 width of the ring: a difference in 

 size between Spring and Autumn 

 vessels: no grids in the vessels. 



Rays in transverse section, 

 visible but by no means prominent : 

 boundary a line of contrast or at 

 most a row of small pores: uni- 

 seriate rays abundant. 



Rays as last (above): no half- 

 tone effect in tangential section. 



