Wikipedia

Tilia

"Lime tree" redirects here. For the citrus, seeLime (fruit).
For ancient Romans named "Tilia", seeTillia gens.

Tiliais agenusof about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of thetemperateNorthern Hemisphere. The tree is known aslindenfor the European species, andbasswoodfor North American species.[1][2]In Great Britain and Ireland they are commonly calledlime trees,although they are not related to the citruslime.The genus occurs in Europe and eastern North America, but the greatest species diversity is found in Asia. Under theCronquist classification system,this genus was placed in the familyTiliaceae,but genetic research summarised by theAngiosperm Phylogeny Grouphas resulted in the incorporation of this genus, and of most of the previous family, into theMalvaceae.

Tilia
Temporal range:Eocene–Recent
Tilia tomentosa,cultivated at theMorton ArboretumnearChicago
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Subfamily: Tilioideae
Genus: Tilia
L.
Species

About 30

Tiliais the only knownectomycorrhizalgenus in the familyMalvaceae.Studies of ectomycorrhizal relations ofTiliaspecies indicate a wide range of fungal symbionts and a preference towardAscomycotafungal partners.[3][4][5]

Description

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Tiliaspecies are mostly large,deciduoustrees, reaching typically 20 to 40 m (65 to 130 ft) tall, with oblique-cordate (heart-shaped) leaves6 to 20 cm (2+1⁄4to7+3⁄4in) across. As withelms,the exact number of species is uncertain, as many of the species canhybridisereadily, both in the wild and in cultivation. They arehermaphroditic,havingperfect flowerswith both male and female parts, pollinated by insects.

TheTilia'ssturdy 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.[6]

The leaves of allTiliaspecies are heart-shaped, and most are asymmetrical. The tiny, pea-like fruit hangs attached to a ribbon-like, greenish-yellowbractwhose apparent purpose is to launch the ripened seed clusters just a little beyond the parent tree. The flowers of the European and AmericanTiliaspecies 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 theTiliaspecies 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.Tiliais 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.[6]

  • Trunk and leaves
  • Leaf of common lime (Tilia × europaea) showing venation
  • The venation within aTiliabract
  • Tiliaflowers
  • Tiliafruit
  • Fall color
  • A 15-year-old lime-tree, Haute-Savoie, France
  • Tilia aftercoppicing,Vogelsberg Mountains

Taxonomy

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Bole of an ancientTiliaat Frankenbrunn,Bavaria
Ancient lime tree atChilston Park,England
Avenue of lime trees at Turville Heath
Tilia in theMünzenberg Castle

Subdivision

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Species

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

Hybrids and cultivars

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  • 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)

Etymology

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TheLatintiliais cognate toGreekπτελέᾱ,ptelea,"elm tree",τιλίαι,tiliai,"black poplar"(Hes.), ultimately from aProto-Indo-Europeanword*ptel-ei̯āwith a meaning of "broad" (feminine); perhaps "broad-leaved" or similar.[citation needed]

The genus is generally called "lime" or "linden" in Britain[7]and "linden", "lime", or "basswood" in North America.[2]

"Lime" is an altered form ofMiddle Englishlind,in the 16th century alsoline,from Old English femininelindorlinde,Proto-Germanic*lindō(cf. Dutch[8]/GermanLinde,pluralLinden), cognate to Latinlentus"flexible" and Sanskritlatā"liana".WithinGermanic languages,English "lithe" and Dutch[9]/Germanlindfor "lenient, yielding" are from the same root.

"Linden" was originally the adjective, "made from linwood or lime-wood" (equivalent to "wooden" or "oaken" ); from the late 16th century, "linden" was also used as a noun, probably influenced by translations of German romance, as an adoption ofLinden,the plural ofLindein Dutch[8]and German.[citation needed] Neither the name nor the tree is related toCitrusgenus species and hybrids that go by the same name, such asKey limes(Citrus × aurantifolia). Another common name used in North America is basswood, derived frombast,the name for the inner bark (seeUses,below).Teilis an old name for the lime tree.

Ecology

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Bombus terrestrisonTilia cordata
Linden nailgalls,caused by the miteEriophyes tiliae

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.

Uses

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The linden is recommended as an ornamental tree when a mass of foliage or a deep shade is desired.[6]It produces fragrant and nectar-producing flowers and is an important honey plant for beekeepers, giving rise to a pale but richly flavouredmonofloral honey.In European and North American herbal medicine, the flowers are also used for herbal teas andtinctures.The flowers are used for herbal tea in the winter in the Balkans. In China, driedTiliaflowers are also used to make tea.[10]

InEnglish landscape gardens,avenues of linden trees were fashionable, especially during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Manycountry houseshave a surviving "lime avenue" or "lime walk", the example atHatfield Housewas 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 werecultivarspropagated bylayeringin the Netherlands.[12]

Wood

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LimewoodSaint GeorgebyTilman Riemenschneider,c. 1490

Linden trees produce soft and easily worked timber, which has very littlegrainand 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 elaboratealtarpiecesofVeit Stoss,Tilman Riemenschneider,and many others. In England, it was the favoured medium of the sculptorGrinling Gibbons[14](1648–1721). The wood is used inmarionette- andpuppet-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.In China, it was also widely used in carving or furniture, interior decorating, handicrafts, etc.[10]

Ease of working and good acoustic properties also make limewood popular for electric and bass guitar bodies and forwind instrumentssuch asrecorders.Percussionmanufacturers sometimes useTiliaas 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]

In China,Đông lạnh ma / "dongmo"grows well on decomposing logs ofTiliatrees in theold-growth forest;[10]therefore, people use logs ofTiliatrees to cultivateS. edulisand evenBlack fungusorshiitakemushrooms with excellent results. Currently, "Đoạn mộc mộc nhĩ đen /Tilia-logs-black fungus "or" đoạn mộc hương nấm /Tilia-logs-shiitake mushrooms "has become a term for a method of cultivating black fungus and shiitake mushrooms and" đoạn mộc /Tilia-logs "no longer exclusively refers toTiliatree wood but also to other woods suitable for black fungus or shiitake mushrooms cultivation.[15]

In Russian, "linden-made" (липовый,lipoviy) is a term for forgery, due to the popularity of the material for making forged seals in the past centuries.[16]

Bark

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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[17]fibreis 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 theTilia japonicatree has been used by theAinu peopleof Japan to weave their traditional clothing, theattus.Excavations in Britain have shown that lime tree fibre was preferred for clothing there during the Bronze Age.[18]TheManchu peoplein the mountains of Northeast China made ropes, baskets, raincoats, large fishing nets, and guide lines for gunpowder from the bast.[19]Similar fibres obtained from other plants are also called bast: seeBast fibre.

Nectar

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Tiliais a high-quality wild honey plant. In China, "Cây đoạn mật /Tiliahoney "is produced in the northeast region. White in color, it is called" white honey "or" snow honey ".Heilong gian gis well-known throughout the country for producing high-quality "Tiliahoney ": Heilong gian g not only has lushTiliatrees, but also a rare and excellent bee species - "Đông Bắc hắc ong /Northeast Black Bee"to collect honey (Raohe Countyis the location of the national "Đông Bắc hắc ong tự nhiên bảo hộ khu /Northeast Black Bee Nature Reserve". It is the only nature reserve for bees in Asia.[20]).[21]"Tiliahoney "mainly comes fromTilia amurensisandTilia mandshurica.[21]"Tiliahoney "and southern"longanhoney "and"lycheehoney "are called" China's three famous honeys ".[10]"Tiliahoney ","rapehoney "and"black acacia honey"are the three most productive honeys in China.[22]

Phytochemicals

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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 aromaticvolatile oilfound in the flowers.Phytochemicalsin theTiliaflowers includeflavonoidsandtanninswithastringentproperties.[23]

The nectar contains a major secondary metabolite with the trivial name tiliaside (1-[4-(1-hydroxy-1-methylethyl)-1,3-cyclohexadiene-1-carboxylate]-6-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-β-D-glucopyranose) which is transformed in the gut ofbumblebeesto the aglycone (i.e., the gentiobiose group is cleaved) which is bioactive against a common and debilitating gut parasite of bumblebees,Crithidia bombi.This naturally occurring compound may support bees to manage the burden of disease - one of the major contributors to pollinator decline.[24]

Other uses

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A beverage made from dried linden leaves and flowers is brewed and consumed as a folk medicine and relaxant in many Balkan countries, includingSerbiaandGreece.[25]Usually, the double-flowered species are used to make perfumes.[citation needed]The leaf buds and young leaves are also edible raw.[26][27]

Tiliaspecies are used as food plants by thelarvaeof someLepidoptera;see List of Lepidoptera that feed onTilia.

In culture

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Main article:Lime tree in culture
T. johnsonileaf fossil, 49Ma,Washington state

In Europe, some linden trees reached considerable ages. AcoppiceofT. cordatainWestonbirt ArboretuminGloucestershireis estimated to be 2,000 years old.[28]In the courtyard of theImperial Castle at Nurembergis aTilia,which by tradition recounted in 1900, was planted by theEmpress Cunigunde,the wife ofHenry II of Germanycirca1000. TheTiliaof Neuenstadt am Kocher in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, was estimated at 1000 years old when it fell.[6]The Alte Linde tree of Naters, Switzerland, is mentioned in a document in 1357 and described by the writer at that time as alreadymagnam(large). A plaque at its foot mentions that in 1155, a linden tree was already on this spot. TheNajevnik linden tree(Slovene:Najevska lipa), a 700-year-oldT. cordata,is the thickest tree inSlovenia.[29]Next to the anh hoa điện /Yinghua Temple in theForbidden CityinBeijing,there are twoTiliatrees planted by Empress Dowager Li, the biological mother ofWanli Emperorabout five hundred years ago.[30]

  • The excellence of the honey of the far-famedHyblaean Mountains[31]was due to the linden trees that covered its sides and crowned its summit.
  • Lime fossils have been found in theTertiaryformations ofGrinnell Land,Canada, at 82°N latitude, and inSvalbard,Norway. Sapporta believed he had found there the common ancestor of theTiliaspecies of Europe and America.[6]
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See also

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References

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  1. ^USDA, NRCS(n.d.)."​Tilia​".The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov).Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team.Retrieved10 December2015.
  2. ^ab"Linden, definition".Merriam Webster dictionary.RetrievedMay 25,2020.
  3. ^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.Bibcode:2008UFUG....7..265T.doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2008.08.001.
  4. ^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.Bibcode:2019ForEM.437..113R.doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2019.01.009.S2CID91789869.
  5. ^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.Bibcode:2021GEcoC..3101863J.doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2021.e01863.S2CID244182315.
  6. ^abcdeKeeler, Harriet L. (1900).Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them.New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp.24–31.
  7. ^Brown, Lesley (ed.). 2002.Shorter Oxford English Dictionary,vol. 1, A–M. 5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 1600.
  8. ^ab"Linde".Van Dale(in Dutch).Retrieved2023-04-08.
  9. ^"Vergeten woorden – L".Taaldacht(in Dutch). 2015-08-21.Retrieved2023-04-08.
  10. ^abcdLưu Ngọc sóng (2020-12-21)."Cây đoạn: Danh mật chi nguyên cùng Phật kết duyên"(in Chinese). forestry.gov.cn.Retrieved2023-01-11.
  11. ^"Gaddesden lime avenue".chilternsaonb.org.Chilterns Conservation Board.Retrieved22 December2021.
  12. ^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.43:126346.Bibcode:2019UFUG...4326346W.doi:10.1016/j.ufug.2019.05.008.S2CID190901271.Retrieved22 December2021.
  13. ^"Lime timber".Niche Timbers.Archived fromthe originalon 21 May 2011.Retrieved19 August2009.
  14. ^"Hampton Court Palace: Grinling Gibbons".Hrp.org.uk.RetrievedJuly 6,2012.
  15. ^"Đoạn mộc mộc nhĩ đen cùng mộc nhĩ đen khác nhau, đoạn mộc tài bồi mộc nhĩ đen kỹ thuật"(in Chinese). Nông nghiệp gieo trồng võng. 2019-06-15.Retrieved2023-01-17.
  16. ^"За что обидели липу?".January 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-10-25.Retrieved2013-11-07.
  17. ^Kallio, Edwin; Richard M. Godman (1973).American Basswood... an American Wood.US Forest Service. p. 5.
  18. ^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.PMID27418485.
  19. ^Quan vân đức (2010-04-30)."Đông Bắc mãn tộc người vỏ cây áo tơi"(in Chinese). chinanews.cn.Retrieved2023-01-11.
  20. ^"Tha hà địa vực văn hóa chi bốn: Đông Bắc hắc ong"(in Chinese). / raohe.gov.cn.Retrieved2023-01-11.
  21. ^ab"Độc đáo Đông Bắc hắc ong cùng cây đoạn mật"(in Chinese). new.qq.Retrieved2023-01-11.
  22. ^Kiều giang đào."Nghiên cứu phát hiện cây cải dầu mật, cây hoè gai mật cùng cây đoạn mật trúng thầu chí tính thành phần"(in Chinese). Institute of Apicultural Research, CAAS.Retrieved2023-01-11.
  23. ^Bradley P., ed. (1992). British Herbal Compendium. Vol. 1: 142–144. British Herbal Medicine Association, Dorset (Great Britain)
  24. ^Koch H, Welcome V, Kendal-Smith A, Thursfield L, Farrell IW, Langat MK, Brown MJF, Stevenson PC (2022)."Host and gut microbiome modulate the antiparasitic activity of nectar metabolites in a bumblebee pollinator".Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.377(1853): 20210164.doi:10.1098/rstb.2021.0162.PMC9058528.PMID35491601.{{cite journal}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. ^Pavlović, Tamara; Dimkić, Ivica; Andrić, Snežana; Milojković-Opsenica, Dušanka; Stanković, Slaviša; Janaćković, Peđa; Gavrilović, Milan; Ristivojević, Petar (2020-10-15)."Linden tea from Serbia – an insight into the phenolic profile, radical scavenging and antimicrobial activities".Industrial Crops and Products.154:112639.doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112639.ISSN0926-6690.
  26. ^"Tilia cordata Small Leaved Lime, Littleleaf linden".PFAF Plant Database.
  27. ^"Tilia americana American Basswood, Carolina basswood, Basswood, AmericanBasswood, American Linden".PFAF Plant Database.
  28. ^Podlewska, Katrina (March 4, 2013)."Celebrating Westonbirt's 2000 Year Old Lime".Friends of Westonbirt Arboretum.RetrievedMay 25,2020.
  29. ^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).Retrieved28 August2013.
  30. ^Tô di."Anh hoa điện"(in Chinese). The Palace Museum.Retrieved2023-01-12.
  31. ^"Honey".Encyclopædia Britannica(9th ed.).RetrievedNovember 22,2011....honey most esteemed by the ancients was that of Mount Hybla in Sicily...

Further reading

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Wikisourcehas the text of the 1920Encyclopedia AmericanaarticleLinden.
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