Wednesday Street Tree #14
Large-leaved lime
Most of the year I find the Tilia genus confusing. Some of the limes, or lindens, are easy to identify like the spiky-leaved Mongolian lime, or the silver lime with its white leaf undersides, but many are not. I would struggle to tell you if a tree was a common or large-leaved lime, a Crimean lime or a basswood, or even one of the other rarer species that you might encounter like Oliver’s lime.
But in December, there’s one species that is suddenly conspicuous because it keeps its leaves much later than its siblings, and that is the large-leaved lime.
Large-leaved limes are one of the Tilia species native to the UK, the others being Tilia cordata, the small-leaved lime, and the hybrid between these two species, the common lime, Tilia x europaea. It is this last species that is the most common – a towering tree much planted on streets and in parks, but also the favoured host plant of the lime aphid (Eucallipetrus tiliae). Because they are such large trees, there’s plenty of room for gigantic colonies of aphids who excrete correspondingly vast quantities of what is euphemistically called ‘honey dew’, a sticky substance that turns pavements, and cars, black as city grime attaches itself. Consequently, street tree planters have been employing other Tilia species to try and avoid this irksome suburban problem, and while the large-leaved and small-leaved limes still attract the aphids, it seems they are not quite as attractive as the common lime.
What is it?
Large-leaved lime
Tilia platyphyllos
Where is it?
Landseer Road, London N19 4JU
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This Sunday: A Long Read
Instead of a Great British or Irish tree this weekend, I’ll be posting the first in an occasional series of Long Reads. These will be articles from guest writers and the first is from John Tregoning, author and Professor of Vaccine Immunology at Imperial College London. I hope you will find John’s article interesting – it’s about the role trees play in making cities, and London in particular, healthier.
Xmas Art Auction/Fundraiser
This Saturday, 7th December, the inspirational Haringey Tree Protectors are running a fund-raising art auction and Christmas social at the Karamel Café in Wood Green. I'll be there, and one of my prints (of the plane trees in Finsbury Park) will be up for grabs to the highest bidder. You can preview some of the other artworks in the auction on the HTP instagram feed. See you there?
Christmas Gifts for the Tree Curious
I have signed books and limited edition photographic prints for sale in my online shop. They are ideal gifts (or self-gifts) for anyone who loves trees. Take your pick from nine of my favourite photos, or grab yourself one of my books.
enjoyed this.