Tilia

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"Lime tree" redirects here. For the citrus, see Lime (fruit).

Tilia

Temporal range: Eocene–Recent

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Tilia tomentosa.jpg

Tilia tomentosa, cultivated at the Morton Arboretum near Chicago

Scientific classificatione

Kingdom: Plantae

Clade: Tracheophytes

Clade: Angiosperms

Clade: Eudicots

Clade: Rosids

Order: Malvales

Family: Malvaceae

Subfamily: Tilioideae

Genus: Tilia

L.

Species

About 30

Tilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate
Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North
American species.[1][2] In Britain and Ireland they are commonly called lime trees, although they are not
related to the citrus lime. The genus occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but the greatest
species diversity is found in Asia. Under the Cronquist classification system, this genus was placed in the
family Tiliaceae, but genetic research summarised by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has resulted in
the incorporation of this genus, and of most of the previous family, into the Malvaceae.

Tilia species are mostly large, deciduous trees, reaching typically 20 to 40 m (65 to 130 ft) tall, with
oblique-cordate (heart-shaped) leaves 6 to 20 cm (2+1⁄4 to 7+3⁄4 in) across. As with elms, the exact
number of species is uncertain, as many of the species can hybridise readily, both in the wild and in
cultivation. They are hermaphroditic, having perfect flowers with both male and female parts, pollinated
by insects.

Tilia is the only known ectomycorrhizal genus in the family Malvaceae. Studies of ectomycorrhizal
relations of Tilia species indicate a wide range of fungal symbionts and a preference toward Ascomycota
fungal partners.[3][4][5]

Contents

1 Name

2 Description

3 History

4 Uses

4.1 Wood

4.2 Bark

4.3 Herbalism

4.4 Other uses

5 Classification

5.1 Species

5.2 Hybrids and cultivars

6 Gallery

7 See also

8 References
9 Bibliography

10 External links

Name

The genus is generally called "lime" or "linden" in Britain[6] and "linden", "lime", or "basswood" in North
America.[2]

"Lime" is an altered form of Middle English lind, in the 16th century also line, from Old English feminine
lind or linde, Proto-Germanic *lindō, cognate to Latin lentus "flexible" and Sanskrit latā "liana". Within
Germanic languages, English "lithe", German lind "lenient, yielding" are from the same root.

"Linden" was originally the adjective, "made from linwood or lime-wood" (equivalent to "wooden");
from the late 16th century, "linden" was also used as a noun, probably influenced by translations of
German romance, as an adoption of Linden, the plural of German Linde.[citation needed] Neither the
name nor the tree is related to the citrus fruit called "lime" (Citrus aurantifolia, family Rutaceae).
Another common name used in North America is basswood, derived from bast, the name for the inner
bark (see Uses, below). Teil is an old name for the lime tree.

Latin tilia is cognate to Greek πτελέᾱ, ptelea, "elm tree", τιλίαι, tiliai, "black poplar" (Hes.), ultimately
from a Proto-Indo-European word *ptel-ei ̯ā with a meaning of "broad" (feminine); perhaps
"broad-leaved" or similar.[citation needed]

Description

Linden nail galls, caused by the mite Eriophyes tiliae

Leaves and trunk

The Tilia's sturdy trunk stands like a pillar and the branches divide and subdivide into numerous
ramifications on which the twigs are fine and thick. In summer, these are profusely clothed with large
leaves and the result is a dense head of abundant foliage.[7]

The leaves of all the Tilia species are heart-shaped, and most are asymmetrical. The tiny, pea-like fruit
hangs attached to a ribbon-like, greenish-yellow bract whose apparent purpose is to launch the ripened
seed clusters just a little beyond the parent tree. The flowers of the European and American Tilia species
are similar, except the American ones bear a petal-like scale among their stamens and the European
varieties are devoid of these appendages. All of the Tilia species may be propagated by cuttings and
grafting, as well as by seed. They grow rapidly in rich soil, but are subject to the attack of many insects.
Tilia is notoriously difficult to propagate from seed unless collected fresh in fall. If allowed to dry, the
seeds go into a deep dormancy and take 18 months to germinate.[7]

In particular, aphids are attracted by the rich supply of sap, and are in turn often "farmed" by ants for
the production of the sap, which the ants collect for their own use, and the result can often be a dripping
of excess sap onto the lower branches and leaves, and anything else below. Cars left under the trees can
quickly become coated with a film of the syrup ("honeydew") thus dropped from higher up. The
ant/aphid "farming" process does not appear to cause any serious damage to the trees.

Leaf of common lime (Tilia × europaea) showing venation

Tilia flowers

Tilia fruit

The venation within a Tilia bract

History
For cultural significance, see Lime tree in culture.

T. johnsoni leaf fossil, 49 Ma, Washington, USA

In Europe, some linden trees reached considerable ages. A coppice of T. cordata in Westonbirt
Arboretum in Gloucestershire is estimated to be 2,000 years old.[8] In the courtyard of the Imperial
Castle at Nuremberg is a Tilia, which by tradition recounted in 1900, was planted by the Empress
Cunigunde, the wife of Henry II of Germany circa 1000. The Tilia of Neuenstadt am Kocher in
Baden-Württemberg, Germany, was estimated at 1000 years old when it fell.[7] The Alte Linde tree of
Naters, Switzerland, is mentioned in a document in 1357 and described by the writer at that time as
already magnam (large). A plaque at its foot mentions that in 1155, a linden tree was already on this
spot. The Najevnik linden tree (Slovene: Najevska lipa), a 700-year-old T. cordata, is the thickest tree in
Slovenia.[9]

The excellence of the honey of the far-famed Hyblaean Mountains[10] was due to the linden trees that
covered its sides and crowned its summit.

Lime fossils have been found in the Tertiary formations of Grinnell Land, Canada, at 82°N latitude, and in
Svalbard, Norway. Sapporta believed he had found there the common ancestor of the Tilia species of
Europe and America.[7]

Uses

Bombus terrestris on Tilia cordata

The linden is recommended as an ornamental tree when a mass of foliage or a deep shade is desired.[7]
It produces fragrant and nectar-producing flowers and is an important honey plant for beekeepers,
giving rise to a pale but richly flavoured monofloral honey. In European and North American herbal
medicine, the flowers are also used for herbal teas and tinctures.

In English landscape gardens, avenues of linden trees were fashionable, especially during the late 17th
and early 18th centuries. Many country houses have a surviving "lime avenue" or "lime walk", the
example at Hatfield House was planted between 1700 and 1730.[11] The fashion was derived from the
earlier practice of planting lindens in lines as shade trees in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and
northern France. Most of the trees used in British gardens were cultivars propagated by layering in the
Netherlands.[12]

Wood
Limewood Saint George by Tilman Riemenschneider, circa 1490

Linden trees produce soft and easily worked timber, which has very little grain and a density of 560
kg/m3.[13] It was often used by Germanic tribes for constructing shields. It is a popular wood for model
building and for intricate carving. Especially in Germany, it was the classic wood for sculpture from the
Middle Ages onwards and is the material for the elaborate altarpieces of Veit Stoss, Tilman
Riemenschneider, and many others. In England, it was the favoured medium of the sculptor Grinling
Gibbons[14] (1648–1721). The wood is used in marionette- and puppet-making and -carving. Having a
fine, light grain and being comparatively light in weight, it has been used for centuries for this purpose;
despite the availability of modern alternatives, it remains one of the main materials used as of 2015.

Ease of working and good acoustic properties also make limewood popular for electric and bass guitar
bodies and for wind instruments such as recorders. Percussion manufacturers sometimes use Tilia as a
material for drum shells, both to enhance their sound and for their aesthetics.[citation needed]

Linden wood is also the material of choice for window blinds and shutters. Real-wood blinds are often
made from this lightweight but strong and stable wood, which is well suited to natural and stained
finishes.[citation needed]

Bark

Known in the trade as basswood, particularly in North America, its name originates from the inner
fibrous bark of the tree, known as bast. A strong[15] fibre is obtained from the tree by peeling off the
bark and soaking it in water for a month, after which the inner fibres can be easily separated. Bast
obtained from the inside of the bark of the Tilia japonica tree has been used by the Ainu people of Japan
to weave their traditional clothing, the attus. Excavations in Britain have shown that lime tree fibre was
preferred for clothing there during the Bronze Age.[16] Similar fibres obtained from other plants are also
called bast: see Bast fibre.

Herbalism

The dried flowers are mildly sweet and sticky, and the fruit is somewhat sweet and mucilaginous. Linden
flower tea has a pleasing taste, due to the aromatic volatile oil found in the flowers. The flowers, leaves,
wood, and charcoal (obtained from the wood) are used for medicinal purposes. Active ingredients in the
Tilia flowers include flavonoids (which act as antioxidants) and volatile oils. The plant also contains
tannins that can act as an astringent.[17]
Linden flowers are used in herbalism for colds, cough, fever, infections, inflammation, high blood
pressure, and headache (particularly migraine), and as a diuretic (increases urine production),
antispasmodic (reduces smooth muscle spasm along the digestive tract), and sedative.[18] In traditional
Austrian medicine, Tilia flowers have been used internally as tea for treatment of disorders of the
respiratory tract, fever, and flu.[19] New evidence shows that the flowers may be hepatoprotective.[20]
The wood is used for liver and gallbladder disorders and cellulitis (inflammation of the skin and
surrounding soft tissue). That wood burned to charcoal is ingested to treat intestinal disorders and used
topically to treat edema or infection such as cellulitis or ulcers of the lower leg.[17]

Other uses

Usually, the double-flowered species are used to make perfumes.[citation needed] The leaf buds and
young leaves are also edible raw.[21][22]

Tilia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera; see List of Lepidoptera that feed
on Tilia.

Classification

This list comprises the most widely accepted species, hybrids, and cultivars".

Bole of an ancient Tilia at Frankenbrunn, Bavaria

Ancient lime tree at Chilston Park, England

Avenue of lime trees at Turville Heath

A 15-year-old lime-tree, Haute-Savoie, France

Tilia in the Münzenberg Castle

Species

Tilia americana L. – American basswood, American linden

Tilia amurensis – Amur lime, Amur linden

Tilia caroliniana – Carolina basswood

Tilia chinensis – Chinese linden

Tilia chingiana Hu & W.C.Cheng

Tilia cordata Mill. – Small-leaved lime, little-leaf linden or greenspire linden

Tilia dasystyla Steven

Tilia henryana Szyszyl. – Henry's lime, Henry's linden

Tilia hupehensis – Hubei lime

Tilia insularis

Tilia intonsa

Tilia japonica – Japanese lime, shina (when used as a laminate)

†Tilia johnsoni Wolfe & Wehr Eocene; Washington and British Columbia

Tilia kiusiana

Tilia mandshurica – Manchurian lime

Tilia maximowicziana

Tilia miqueliana

Tilia mongolica Maxim. – Mongolian lime, Mongolian linden

Tilia nasczokinii – Nasczokin's lime, Nasczokin's linden

Tilia nobilis

Tilia officinarum

Tilia oliveri – Oliver's lime

Tilia paucicostata
Tilia platyphyllos Scop. – large-leaved lime

Tilia rubra – Red stem lime (syn. T. platyphyllos var. rubra)

Tilia tomentosa Moench – silver lime, silver linden

Tilia tuan Szyszyl.

Hybrids and cultivars

Tilia × euchlora (T. dasystyla × T. cordata)

Tilia × europaea – Common lime (T. cordata × T. platyphyllos; syn. T. × vulgaris)

Tilia × petiolaris (T. tomentosa × T. ?)

Tilia 'Flavescens' – Glenleven linden (T. americana × T. cordata)

Tilia 'Moltkei' (T. americana × T. petiolaris)

Tilia 'Orbicularis' (hybrid, unknown origin)

Tilia 'Spectabilis' (hybrid, unknown origin)

Gallery

Tilia americana

Tilia cordata

Tilia henryana
Tilia heterophylla (syn. T. monticola)

Tilia insularis

Tilia japonica

Tilia maximowicziana

Tilia miqueliana

Tilia mongolica

Tilia oliveri
Tilia platyphyllos

Tilia tomentosa

See also

International World War Peace Tree, a Tilia tree that stands as a sign of Germany's armistice with the
United States

Lime tree in culture

Matryoshka doll, made from linden trees

St Lawrence Lime, a former lime tree in Canterbury, England

References

USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Tilia". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina:
National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 10 December 2015.

"Linden, definition". Merriam Webster dictionary. Retrieved May 25, 2020.

Timonen, Sari; Kauppinen, Pauliina (January 2008). "Mycorrhizal colonisation patterns of Tilia trees in
street, nursery and forest habitats in southern Finland". Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. 7 (4):
265–276. doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2008.08.001.

Rudawska, Maria; Kujawska, Marta; Leski, Tomasz; Janowski, Daniel; Karliński, Leszek; Wilgan, Robin
(April 2019). "Ectomycorrhizal community structure of the admixture tree species Betula pendula,
Carpinus betulus, and Tilia cordata grown in bare-root forest nurseries". Forest Ecology and
Management. 437: 113–125. doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2019.01.009. S2CID 91789869.

Janowski, Daniel; Nara, Kazuhide (November 2021). "Unique host effect of Tilia japonica on
ectomycorrhizal fungal communities independent of the tree's dominance: A rare example of a
generalist host?". Global Ecology and Conservation. 31: e01863. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01863. S2CID
244182315.
 Brown, Lesley (ed.). 2002. Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, vol. 1, A–M. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, p. 1600.

Keeler, Harriet L. (1900). Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons. pp. 24–31.

Podlewska, Katrina (March 4, 2013). "Celebrating Westonbirt's 2000 Year Old Lime". Friends of
Westonbirt Arboretum. Retrieved May 25, 2020.

Šmid Hribar, Mateja. "Najevska lipa" [Najevnik Linden Tree]. In Šmid Hribar, Mateja; Golež, Gregor;
Podjed, Dan; Kladnik, Drago; Erhartič, Bojan; Pavlin, Primož; Ines, Jerele (eds.). Enciklopedija naravne in
kulturne dediščine na Slovenskem – DEDI [Encyclopedia of Natural and Cultural Heritage in Slovenia] (in
Slovenian). Retrieved 28 August 2013.

"Honey". 9th Edition of Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 22, 2011. …honey most
esteemed by the ancients was that of Mount Hybla in Sicily…

"Gaddesden lime avenue". www.chilternsaonb.org. Chilterns Conservation Board. Retrieved 22

Wolff, Kirsten; Logan, Samuel (2019). "Tilia cultivars in historic lime avenues and parks in the UK,
Estonia and other European countries" (PDF). Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. 43. Retrieved 22
December 2021.

"Lime timber". Niche Timbers. Retrieved 19 August 2009.

"Hampton Court Palace: Grinling Gibbons". Hrp.org.uk. Retrieved July 6, 2012.

Kallio, Edwin; Richard M. Godman (1973). American Basswood... an American Wood. US Forest Service.
p. 5.

Stokstad, Erik (2016). "A time capsule from Bronze Age Britain". Science. 353 (6296): 210–211.
Bibcode:2016Sci...353..210S. doi:10.1126/science.353.6296.210. PMID 27418485.

Bradley P., ed. (1992). British Herbal Compendium. Vol. 1: 142–144. British Herbal Medicine
Association, Dorset (Great Britain)

Coleta, M; Campos, M. G.; Cotrim, M. D.; Proença Da Cunha, A (2001). "Comparative evaluation of
Melissa officinalis L., Tilia europaea L., Passiflora edulis Sims. And Hypericum perforatum L. In the
elevated plus maze anxiety test". Pharmacopsychiatry. 34 Suppl 1: S20–1. doi:10.1055/s-2001-15460.
PMID 11518069.

Vogl, Sylvia; Picker, Paolo; Mihaly-Bison, Judit; Fakhrudin, Nanang; Atanasov, Atanas G.; Heiss, Elke H.;
Wawrosch, Christoph; Reznicek, Gottfried; Dirsch, Verena M.; Saukel, Johannes; Kopp, Brigitte (2013).
"Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine—An unexplored lore in vitro
anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 149
(3): 750–71. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007. PMC 3791396. PMID 23770053.
 Matsuda, Hisashi; Ninomiya, Kiyofumi; Shimoda, Hiroshi; Yoshikawa, Masayuki (2002).
"Hepatoprotective principles from the flowers of Tilia argentea (Linden): Structure requirements of
tiliroside and mechanisms of action". Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. 10 (3): 707–712.
doi:10.1016/S0968-0896(01)00321-2. PMID 11814859.

"Tilia cordata Small Leaved Lime, Littleleaf linden". PFAF Plant Database.

"Tilia americana American Basswood, Carolina basswood, Basswood, AmericanBasswood, American

Bibliography