Tilia

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 or lime bushes, although they are not closely related to the tree that produces the lime fruit. 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 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. Lindens are hermaphroditic, having perfect flowers with both male and female parts, pollinated by insects.

The genus is generally called “lime” or “linden” in Britain[3] 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-ei̯ā with a meaning of “broad” (feminine); perhaps “broad-leaved” or similar.[citation needed]

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.[4]

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.[4]

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.