A modern reference to temperate woody plants, including updated content from this site and much new material, can be found at Trees and Shrubs Online.

Tilia tomentosa Moench

European White Lime

Modern name

Tilia tomentosa Moench

Synonyms

T. alba Ait., in part; T. argentea DC.; T. europaea var. alba (Ait.) Loud.

A tree 60 to 100 ft high, usually of broadly pyramidal habit, and with rather stiff, erect branches; young shoots woolly. Leaves 2 to 5 in. long, about as wide, roundish, heart-shaped, or nearly straight at the base, shortly and slenderly pointed, frequently with small lobes at the margins as well as the sharp, sometimes double teeth, dark green above and slightly downy at first, silvery white with a close felt beneath; stalks 34 to 112 in. long, felted. Flowers dull white, produced in late July and early August in five- to ten-flowered cymes, 112 to 212 in. long. Floral bract downy, rather longer than the cymes. Fruits 13 to 38 in. long, egg-shaped, with a short point, white with down and minutely warted, and faintly five-angled.

Native of the Balkans, Hungary, southwest Russia and northwest Anatolia; introduced to Britain in 1767. This tree, especially when fully grown, is handsome; in the young and intermediate states it is stiff and rather formal in habit. It thrives admirably in the south of England, and some fine examples exist there. In a breeze this tree presents a lively aspect, through the flashing of the leaves as they are turned by the wind. From T. ‘Petiolaris’ it is obviously distinct in its habit and short-stalked leaves. The flowers come out at the same time, and like those of ‘Petiolaris’ are toxic to bumble-bees. T. oliveri, the best known of the Chinese white limes, has glabrous twigs and more distantly toothed leaves.

Some of the larger specimens of T. tomentosa are: Kew, pl. 1872, 80 × 912 ft (1974); Ockley Court, Surrey, 90 × 12 ft at 3 ft (1971); Melchet Court, Romsey, Hants (meas. by P. H. Gardner), 100 × 1012 ft (1980); Westonbirt, Glos., in The Downs, 92 × 934 ft (1974); Tortworth Court, Glos., 94 × 14 ft (1976).

cv. ‘Brabant’. – This name has been given to a clone propagated in Dutch nurseries and previously sent out as T. tomentosa. Deriving from a tree growing in the village of Hoeven in Brabant, it has a broadly conical crown with a well-developed central stem, which makes it more wind-resistant than the heavily branched form once planted in Britain. It is said to make a good specimen (Dendroflora, No. 7 (1970), pp. 78-9).

T. mandshurica Rupr. & Maxim. T. argentea var. mandshurica (Rupr. & Maxim.) Reg. Manchurian Lime. – This is the eastern counterpart of T. tomentosa, a native of N. China, the Russian Far East and Korea. It differs in the coarser toothing of its leaves, the teeth triangular, long-pointed at the apex. The first introduction to Kew, from Booth of Hamburg in 1871, was a failure, for like so many species from continental northeast Asia it started into growth early and was frequently cut by frost. The present tree thrives somewhat better, but does not flower freely.



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Kew, pl. 1972, 80 × 912 ft and 88 × 10 ft (1982); Melchet Court, Romsey, Hants, 100 × 1012 ft (1980); Worth Park Avenue, Crawley, Sussex, best of eleven, 95 × 1012 ft and 90 × 1014 ft (1981); Tottenham House, Wilts., 52 × 13 ft (1984); Westonbirt, Glos., The Downs, 98 × 1012 ft (1983); Tortworth Church, Glos., 115 × 15 ft (1986).

Genus

Tilia

Other species in the genus