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DOWNY LIME TREE, 
Tibia pubescens. T . foliis basi truncatis, obliquis , denticulato-serratis, subtus 
pubescentibus ; petalis emarginatis , nuce globosà. 
The Downy Lime Tree belongs to the southern parts of the United 
States and to the Floridas. It grows of preference on the borders of 
rivers and large marshes, where the soil is cool and fertile, but not exposed 
to inundation. It is little multiplied, and consequently is not taken notice 
of by the inhabitants ; for this reason, and because it is the only species of 
its kind in the maritime parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, it has 
received no specific denomination, and is called simply Lime Tree, to 
which I have added the epithet downy , derived from a character of its 
foliage, not observed in the preceding species. 
This tree is 40 or 50 feet in height, with a proportional diameter. In 
its general appearance it resembles the American Lime Tree, which grows 
further north, more than the White Lime Tree, which belongs to the Mid- 
dle and Western States. Its leaves differ widely in size according to the 
exposure in which they have grown ; in dry and open places they are only 
2 inches in diameter, and are twice as large in cool and shaded situations. 
They are rounded, pointed at the summit, very obliquely truncated at the 
base, edged with fewer and more remote teeth than than those of the other 
Lime Trees, and very downy beneath. The flowers, also, are more 
numerous, and form larger bunches, and the seeds are round and downy. 
, The wood is very similar to that of the other species, and I do not know 
that it is ever employed. 
This tree was introduced long since into France ; its vegetation is vigor- 
ous, and is uninjured by the severest winters of Paris, which leads me to 
believe that it exists in upper Louisiana and in the Western States. 
PLATE CXXXIIL 
A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. 
