FoI
Small Leaved Lime
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Small Leaved Lime
ntroduced Photo: Dinesh Valke
Common name: Small Leaved Lime, Littleleaf Linden
Botanical name: Tilia cordata    Family: Tiliaceae (Falsa family)
Synonyms: Tilia parvifolia, Tilia ulmifolia

Small Leaved Lime is a deciduous tree growing to 20-38 m tall, with a trunk up to 1-2 m diameter. Alternately arranged, rounded to triangular-ovate leaves, are 3-8 cm long and broad. Leaves are mostly hairless. Small yellow-green flowers are borne in clusters of 5-11 in early summer with a leafy yellow-green subtending bract. Flowers have a rich, heavy scent, and attract bees. The fruit is a dry nut-like drupe 6–7 mm long and 4 mm broad. Small Leaved Lime is native to Europe, West Asia and parts of Russia. It is the national tree of the Czech Republic and Republic of Slovakia.
Medicinal uses: Lime flower tea is widely used in Europe as a relaxing drink. Herbalists also give it for fevers, colds, and flu. It is especially useful for children. American scientists recently found that children with flu recovered more quickly and with fewer complications on Tilia tea than with antibiotics. This bears out the traditional use in Europe of using Tilia tisanes for colds and "fevers". It is, in fact, the most popular daily tisane in France, where its gentle relaxing properties are employed to help parents cope with irritable children.

Identification credit: Tatiana Gerus
Photographed at Manali, Himachal Pradesh.
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