168 



THE LIME-TREE. 



or in groups of three or four on a sloping lawn. 

 It is very patient of clipping, and, consequently, 

 in the suburbs of large towns it more frequently 

 disfigures than adorns, sometimes appearing as a 

 mere leafy hedge, unmeaningly elevated on equi- 

 distant columns. 



The leaf is bright green, pointed, and 

 heart-shaped at the base, smooth above, and 

 either uniformly downy beneath, or bearing 

 small tufts of down in the angles of the veins. 



LEAF AND FLOWER OF TPIS LIME-TREE. 



The flowers are scarcely less profuse than the 

 leaves, and rendered very conspicuous by large 

 yellowish-green bracteas, from the centre of which 

 spring three or more stalked flowers. These 

 consist of a five-parted calyx, and five petals, 

 which are nearly of the same colour as the brae- 



