Small leaf lime
Tilia cordata
Description
A native tree, known to have been abundant throughout England in antiquity but nowadays more usually confined in the wild to woodland areas. Stands of wild Small Leaf Lime trees may indicate the area as ancient woodland.
The Small Leaf Lime tree can grow in excess of 30m. tall but nowadays in this country is more often found growing as relatively small trees or as ‘poles’ from coppice stools, which themselves can be hundreds of years old. Coppicing is an ancient form of management, whereby the tree is cut to ground level every few years, leaving a stump or ‘stool’. Regrowth from a stool will provide numerous uniform sized poles for building use or dense foliage for human consumption or animal fodder. The wood beneath the bark of this tree is known as ‘bast’ and was historically used to make low grade cords or ropes.
Situation
Nowadays the Small Leaf Lime is typically found growing on ancient banks in woodlands in the south of England. The trees may grow for 15 years before producing flowers and, since coppicing interrupts flower production, the production of new trees may have been inadvertently limited for some hundreds of years. Coppicing and maybe changes in climate over the centuries have reduced this once abundant wild growing tree, to a relative few stands in ancient woodlands.
Season/Lifecycle
| Flowers | Leaves | Fruit |
| July Small and white, standing erect in groups of 3, with a distinctive bladed wing at the base of the flower stalk. The flowers of other species of lime tree hang downward |
April – May Alternate, heart shaped (cordate) pale green. Young leaves can be eaten raw |
September Ripening by September, the seeds can be carried on the wind for some distance from the tree by the bladed wing attached to the seed stalk. |
Uses
When abundant in prehistoric times, lime poles were used for a wide variety of building purposes, including the construction of boardwalk tracks across marshy land. It is believed that lime charcoal was used in the glassmaking process in ancient times. Bastwood was used for making cordage and in more recent times Lime wood has been used for carving and fine inlay work in carpentry.
