TILIACEiE. 



157 



XIX. THE LIME FAMILY. TILIACE.E. 



A rather large tropical Order, but limited in Britain to a single 

 species. It differs from the Hallow family by the petals imbri- 

 cated but not twisted in the bud ; the stamens free, or shortly 

 united into several bundles : the anthers 2-celled, and the carpels 

 more completely consolidated into a several-celled ovary. 



I. LIMB. TILIA. 



Trees with alternate leaves, deciduous stipules, and small cymes of 

 flowers on an axillary peduncle, to which is attached a long, leaf-like 

 bract. Sepals 5, valvate in the bud. Petals 5. Stamens numerous, 

 very shortly cohering in several clusters. Ovary globular, 5-celled, 

 with 2 ovules in each cell, attached to the inner angle. Style single, 

 with a 5-toothed stigma. Fruit, a small globular nut, containing 1 or 

 2 seeds. 



A genus of very few species, widely distributed over the temperate 

 zone of the northern hemisphere, where it is the only representative 

 of the family. 



1. Common Lime. Tilia europsea, Linn. (Fig. 198.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 610. T. parvifolia, Eng. Bot. t. 170. Lime-tree.) 



A handsome, long-lived tree, attain- 

 ing sometimes as much as 120 feet 

 in height, but generally not above half 

 that size. Leaves stalked, broadly 

 heart-shaped or nearly orbicular, often 

 oblique, and always pointed, serrate 

 on the edge, glabrous above and more 

 or less downy underneath, especially 

 in the angles of the principal veins. 

 Peduncles hanging amongst the leaves, 

 bordered or winged halfway up by the 

 long, narrow, leaf-like bract. Flowers 

 sweet scented, of a pale whitish-green. 

 Nut downy when young, but often gla- 

 brous when ripe. 



In woods, over nearly the whole of 

 Europe, except the extreme north, and 

 extending eastward across Russian Asia 



Fig. 198. 



