Lime Flower

Tilia cordata

Family:  Tiliaceae 
Genus : Tilia
Species: cordata

Synonyms and Common names: Lime, Tilia vulgaris. Tilia intermedia. Tilia cordata. Tilia platyphylla. Linden Flowers. Linn Flowers. Common Lime. Flores Tiliae. Tilleul. (Tilia cordata and Tilia europa are often grouped together as one species, with Tilia europa being the one usually sold as Lime Flowers, however Tilia europa is a hybrid, usually T.cordata crossed with another Lime, probably T. platyphyllos. Tillia europa and cordata have exactly the same properties, so either can be used)

Description and Habitat: Lime is a large deciduous tree believed at one time to have been dominant tree in English forests. Height can be up to 90 feet tall, and they can live for up to 500 years. Mostly found in woods and cliffs (except limestone). Sometimes Lime forms pure stands of trees, but can usually be found growing with Ash, Hawthorn, Field Maple, Birch, Oak, Wild Cherry and Wych Elm. Lime is moderately tolerant of shade, and is found growing in England, Wales, Southern Scotland and Ireland, and in some of Western Europe.

The leaves are heart shaped with fine teeth on the margins, about 3 in long and almost as wide. They are alternate with rather long, slender petioles (leaf stems). Lime flowers are fragrant pale yellow flowers, flowering in midsummer. Linden seeds require a period of moist, cold dormancy before they will germinate, it is best to plant seeds outside as soon as they ripen. The cultivars are bud-grafted onto seedling rootstock, or it is possible to divide suckers and to propagate by layering

Parts used: dried flowers

Collection and preparation: Collect the flowers immediately they have flowered, and choose a dry day. Dry in a warm, dark place and keep out of sunlight.

Constituents: Essential oil containing farnsol, mucilage, flavonoids, hesperidin, coumarin fraxoside, vanillin

Actions: Nervine, anti-spasmodic, diaphoretic, diuretic, astringent, tonic, cholagogue, emollient, expectorant, hypotensive and sedative.

Indications and Therapeutics:  Lime flowers are a remedy for colds and other illnesses where sweating is desirable, and the relaxant and sedative effects bring relief from nervous tension, indigestion and migrane. Lime flower tea is excellent for lowering high blood pressure and keeps arteries in good condition.

Contraindications: There are no known contraindications for Lime flowers, but the effects of Lime Flower have not been studied thoroughly and its safety for the developing child has not been well established. For this reason, it is recommended that the use of Lime Flower preparations during pregnancy or lactation be avoided.

Preparation and dosage: 
Infusion: Pour a cup of boiling water onto 1 teaspoonful of the dried herb and leave to infuse for around 10 minutes. Use 3 times a day.
Tincture: 1 – 2ml of tincture taken 3 times a day.

Folklore and additional comments: The honey from the flowers is regarded as the best flavoured and the most valuable in the world, and bees make a fine honey from the nectar produced by the fragrant flowers

The wood is especially valuable for carving, being white, close-grained, smooth and tractable when working in minute details. Grinley Gibbons did most of his flower and figure carvings for St. Paul's Cathedral, Windsor Castle, and Chatsworth in Lime wood.

It is the lightest wood produced by any of the broad-leaved European trees, and is suitable for many other purposes, as it never becomes worm-eaten. On the Continent it is much used for turnery, sounding boards for pianos, in organ manufacture, as the framework of veneers for furniture, for packing cases, and also for artists' charcoal making and for the fabrication of wood-pulp.

The inner bark when seperated from the outer bark in strands makes excellent fibres and coarse matting, chiefly used by gardeners, being light, but strong and elastic it is excellent for making baskets. In Sweden, the inner bark, separated by maceration so as to form a kind of flax, has been employed to make fishing-nets.

The sap of the Lime tree drawn off in the spring, affords a higher concentration of sugar than most other trees including walnut and birch