THE FOREST TREES OF BRITAIN. 
473 
reverse) of their Laves. They are all natives 
of the middle and north of Europe, but the 
small-leaved species alone is considered to be 
indigenous to Britain. Though all these 
kinds have long become naturalized, we rarely 
see them growing in places where there is no 
room for suspicion that they may have been 
originally planted ; yet there is, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Worcester, on the authority of 
Mr. Edwin Lees, a wood, remote from any old 
dwelling or public road, of above five hundred 
acres in extent, the greater part of the under- 
growth of which is composed of the small- 
leaved lime. There are also in the same part 
of the country, trees estimated to be upwards 
of three hundred years old. 
" The lime is a large tree, characterized by 
its pyramidal shape, by the multiplicity of its 
long, slender, and upright branches, which 
start from the main stem not many feet from 
the base, and by the unbroken surface pre- 
sented by its abundant foliage. These cha- 
racters give to half-grown trees, in which they 
are most conspicuous, a stiff and formal ap- 
pearance, especially if they happen to be 
planted in rows. In older specimens, the 
weight of the lower branches frequently bends 
them down to the ground, so as entirely to 
conceal the trunk ; the middle part of the tree 
is thus thrown open, and the pyramidal out- 
line destroyed ; the summit too becomes some- 
what more tufted. Under these circumstances 
the lime is a stately and even picturesque 
tree, especially when standing alone 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 fre- 
quently disfigures than adorns, sometimes ap- 
pearing as a mere leafy hedge, unmeaningly 
elevated on equidistant 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. 
The flowers are scarcely less profuse than the 
leaves, and rendered very conspicuous by 
large yellowish-green bracteas, from the cen- 
tre 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 bracteas. The stamens are 
numerous, and the whole flower is deliciously 
fragrant, especially towards evening. 
— ' At dewy ere 
Diffusing odours.' 
The seed-vessels are globular and downy, but 
