18 POLYANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Tilia. 



gin acutely and rather unequally serrated ; the point elongated, 

 acute, serrated at its base : upper surface quite smooth, of a 

 bright pleasant green ; under paler, or slightly glaucous, like- 

 wise smooth, except small depressed tufts of brown woolly hairs, 

 where the lateral ribs branch off from the five principal ones. 

 Stipulas oval, smooth, in pairs at the base of each footstalk, soon 

 deciduous. Footstalks cylindrical, slender, smooth, not half so 

 long as the leaves. Flower-stalks axillary, cymose, or imper- 

 fectly umbellate, smooth, hardly so long as the leaves, drooping, 

 with from 6 to 10 flowers j each bearing an oblong, smooth, 

 pale, flat, entire, veiny, membranous bractea, originating above 

 the base of the flower-stalk, and for about half its length firmly 

 united therewith, its blunt point nearly on a level with the flow- 

 ers, or longer. Fl. greenish, delightfully fragrant, especially in 

 an evening. Pet. obovate, pale lemon-coloured, destitute, like 

 all our European species, of the scales, or nectaries, attached to 

 the petals of the American ones. Stam. spreading, shorter than 

 the corolla. Anth. yeWow. Gennew densely hairy. Stigma 5- 

 lobed. Capsule downy, leathery, not woody, uncertain in the 

 number of perfect cells and seeds. 

 This is certainly the Common Lime-tree of the north of Europe, 

 which Linnaeus understood by T. europcea, in his Species Plan- 

 tarum, and, I presume, in his Flora Suecica. The Swedish 

 writers quoted by DeCandolle confirm this point, but the plate 

 of Fl. Dan. t. 553 seems to be our parvifolia. T. europcea is 

 cultivated all over England, and in many parts of Scotland, and 

 though Ray could not meet with it indubitably wild, no one can 

 doubt its being perfectly naturalized. The French " growing 

 tired of the Horse Chesnut," as Du Hamel reports, adopted 



■ this tree, for ornamental plantations, in the time of Louis 

 XIV. It generally composes the avenues about the residences 

 of the French as well as English gentry of that date, and Fene- 



■ Ion, in conformity to this taste, decorates with "flowery Lime- 

 trees" his enchanted isle of Calypso. The bark of this, and 

 perhaps some other species, makes the Russia garden -mats called 

 Bast. Bees collect much honey from the flowers. The smooth, 

 light, delicately white, and uniform wood, useful for some do- 

 mestic purposes, served Gibbons for his inimitable carvings of 

 flowers, dead game, &c., so often seen in old English houses. 

 An antient Lime of great magnitude, which grew where the an- 

 cestors of Linnaeus had long resided, is said to have given them 

 their family name, Linn being Swedish for a Lime-tree. 



2. T. grandifolia. Broad-leaved Downy Lime-tree. 



Nectaries none. Leaves downy, especially beneath ; ori- 

 gin of their veins woolly. Branches hairy. Umbels 

 three-flowered. Capsule woody, downy, turbinate, with 

 five prominent angles. 



