1664 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



taller, all running up to a great height with clean straight stems. These are reputed 

 to have been planted in 1690. At Revesby Abbey there is a fine old tree, about 

 100 ft. by 13 ft. 3 in., with the branches descending to the ground. The avenue at 

 Poltimore, which is very fine, is composed of limes ^ of the species, 



Mr. Renwick reports a large-leaved lime ^ at Ancrum, near Roxburgh, which in 

 1909 measured 26 ft. in girth at 6 ft. from the ground. (H. J. E.) 



TILIA VULGARIS, Common Lime 



Tilia vulgaris, Hayne, Arzn. iii. 47 (181 3); Sargent, in Garden and Forest, ii. 256, fig. no (1889). 

 Tilia intermedia, De Candolle, Prod. i. 513 (1824); Mathieu, Flore Fores Here, 32 (1897). 

 Tilia europcsa, Linnseus, Sp. PL 514 (1753) (in part); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 364 (1838). 

 Tilia cordata x platyphyllos, Schneider, Laubhohkunde, ii. 374 (i9°9); V. Engler, Monog. Gatt. Tilia, 

 144 (1909). 



A tree, attaining 130 ft. in height and 15 ft. in girth. Bark similar to that of 

 T. platyphyllos. Young branchlets green, glabrous, becoming dark-brown with age. 

 Leaves (Plate 407, fig. 4) larger than those of T. cordata, averaging 4 in. in length 

 and 3 in. in width, slightly wrinkled or uneven, cuspidate or acuminate at the 

 apex, truncate or cordate at the base ; margin slightly ciliate and regularly serrate, 

 the teeth ending in short points ; upper surface dark green, glabrous ; lower surface 

 pale green, with brown axil-tufts at the base and the junctions of the midrib, primary 

 and secondary nerves, and a few scattered long hairs on the nerves, elsewhere 

 usually glabrous ; tertiary nerves on the lower surface prominent, mostly straight and 

 parallel ; petiole green, glabrous, about half the length of the blade. 



Cymes pendulous, five- to ten-flowered, glabrous ; bract slightly pubescent, 

 sessile or stalked ; sepals, petals, stamens, ovary, and style as in T. platyphyllos. 

 Fruit ovoid or globose, apiculate at the apex, not ribbed when mature, covered with 

 a dense tomentum ; shell thick and tough. 



The buds are similar to those of T. platyphyllos, showing three external scales, 

 which are glabrous, shining, and ciliate ; but the glabrous branchlets will readily 

 distinguish the common lime in winter, those of T. platyphyllos always being more 

 or less pubescent. 



This species, though the most common lime in cultivation, both in Britain and 

 on the Continent, is extremely rare in the wild state. Mathieu says that it is 

 occasionally seen in woods ^ in France ; and Simonkai records reputed wild speci- 

 mens from Upsala in Sweden and from Finland. Bolle informed Sargent that he 

 had only once seen an indigenous specimen, a tree growing in the Tyrol. 



1 Cf. p. 1667, note I, for other avenues of this species, and p. 1669. 



2 Cf. Christison, in Trans. Bot. Soc. Edin. xix. 494 (1893), who states that it was 20 ft. in girth at five feet up, the 

 narrowest point, in 1877. 



3 In the Cambridge herbarium there is a specimen gathered by Vincent in 1847 in the wood of Champigneuille, near 

 Nancy ; and another gathered in Switzerland by J. Stuart Mill, labeUed " Mountain side, near Altdorf, Canton Uri, 

 completely wild and native." 



