BOTANICAL NAME
Tilia cordata (small-leaved lime) Tilia platyphyllos (broad- or large-leaved lime)
DISTRIBUTION
Both species spread across Europe. Tilia cordata: from parts of the British Isles and northern Spain in the west towards Siberia and Asia Minor in the east. Tilia platyphyllos: a more limited easterly spread, to Poland, western Ukraine and western Turkey.
OLDEST KNOWN LIVING SPECIMEN
Largest single trunk: The lime at Staffelstein, Bavaria, Germany: 24m (79ft) in circumference, estimated age: 1,240 years old (but now a relic). Largest living lime (T. cordata): the Heede Riesenlinde in Lower Saxony: girth 17m (55¾ft) at 1.3m (4½ft), height 26m (85¼ft). Some limes in Cumbria (UK) may be up to 1,600 years old.
RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE
Believed to be connected with ancient fertility gods in eastern and northern Europe.
MYTHICAL ASSOCIATIONS
Regarded in ancient European folklore as female; connected in Teutonic myth with dragons.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not classified on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
An ancient coppiced lime standing on a remote hillside in the Lake District in the north of England.
Every other year in spring, the town of Schenklengsfeld in central Germany relives a ceremony that is centuries old. In the shade of the massive boughs of the ancient lime for which this town is justly famous, local people dressed in their regional costumes celebrate what has come to be known as the Lindenblütenfest – literally, the ‘lime-blossom festival’. Among other festivities, men and women perform traditional dances beside the tree, which is one of Germany’s celebrated Tanz Linde, or ‘dance limes’. In former times, the dancing took place within the tree itself on a wooden dance floor that was constructed on the central branches.
Having long since rotted away, the interior of the enormous trunk, which has split into four separate parts, is completely hollow. Inside this hollow – some 6 sq. m (64 sq. ft) in size – a stone bears the inscription ‘Gepflanzt im Jahre 760’ (Planted in the Year AD 760). No one knows who positioned this stone, or whether the date is correct, but an age of around 1,240 years would not seem out of place, if one compares the size of this tree with other limes of known age. With a crown circumference of about 110m (360ft) and a trunk circumference of nearly 18m (59ft), this may be Germany’s oldest lime. Other contenders for the title of oldest lime in Germany include the Kasberg lime in Bavaria and the Upstedt lime in Lower Saxony.
The tree is one of many enormous ancient German limes beneath whose spreading boughs people have been celebrating the arrival of spring and the fertility of nature since the distant past. In ancient European folklore the lime is represented as a female tree, and appears to have been regarded by early Germanic and Norse peoples as sacred to the ancient goddess of love and fertility, Freya (the counterpart of Venus), and to the goddess of married love and the hearth, Frigga (sometimes they are portrayed as one). In Estonia, according to lime expert Professor Donald Piggott, ancient lime trees were being worshipped by these peoples ‘even after their late conversion to Christianity’ and until recently, sacrifices and votive offerings were still made to them – sometimes attached to their branches by women hoping to be blessed with fertility.
Medieval poets came to use the lime as a symbol of romantic love, and the sweet-scented flowers that they described lovers lying upon seem likely to have included those of the lime tree, intoxicating those who smelt them with their heady scent. It is interesting to note that lime flowers – which have been used for centuries to make a medicinal tisane or tea – may, according to the famous herbal written by Mrs Grieve, ‘produce symptoms of narcotic intoxication’ if they are too old when used.
In France the lime was adopted as a symbol of love, friendship and gatherings. The lime in the village square at Lucheux, known as the Lovers’ Tree, apparently sports a sign inviting newly wed couples to walk through its hollow trunk in order to bring good luck.
In Greek mythology, Cronos (son of Uranus and Gaia, Sky and Earth) is said to have changed himself into a stallion and sired the centaur Chiron, born to the sea nymph Philyra. So ashamed of her offspring was she that she beseeched the gods to turn her into a tree. She was duly turned into a lime tree – phylra in Greek.
Spring sunshine illuminating the new pale green leaves of the Hindenburg Lime in Bavaria.
The Hindenburg Lime is one of Germany’s finest and oldest large-leaved limes.
By way of contrast with the lime’s more romantic associations, it was also – certainly in Germany in the past – the tree beneath which justice was dispensed. The lime at Schenklengsfeld was one of these Gerichtslinden (or ‘justice limes’), and was in use as such until the middle of the nineteenth century. It was here that many people were both sentenced and punished for their alleged crimes. Lime trees were also sometimes used as gallows.
This connection with the idea of justice perhaps explains why the planting of lime trees was adopted historically in Switzerland, Germany and France as a symbol of liberty and victory. A lime was planted in the city of Fribourg in 1476 to mark victory after the Battle of Morat, and many others were planted to mark the end of the Wars of Religion (1562–98). Many of the 60,000 trees planted in 1792 to mark the proclamation of the first Republic of France were also limes. In Sagy, Saône-et-Loire, a lime planted by the Duc de Sully was consecrated as a ‘Tree of Liberty’ in 1793.
In Scandinavia the lime was said to be one of the favourite haunts of elves and fairies, and it was considered unsafe to be near one of these trees after sunset. Ancient Scandinavian folklore also recounts that the mythical dragon Fafnir lived for 90 years in the ground, for 90 years in the ‘desert’ and 90 more in a lime tree, and there seems to be an interesting ancient connection between dragons and the lime. The legendary German hero Horny-Skinned Siegfried or Sigurd apparently acquired his name after he had slain Fafnir and bathed himself in its blood. It was after this feat that his skin became horny and invincible all over, except for one spot between his shoulders to which a lime leaf had stuck. In the German language, an old poetic term for dragon is Lindwurm, which translates as ‘lime tree serpent’ – perhaps the lime tree was once feared and revered as the haunt of mythical beasts.
… Comes sudden on my heart, and I am glad, As I myself were there! Nor in this bower, This little lime-tree bower, have I not marked Much that has soothed me. Pale beneath the blaze Hung the transparent foliage; and I watched Some broad and sunny leaf, and loved to see The shadow of the leaf and stem above Dappling its sunshine! …
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772–1834), ‘THIS LIME-TREE BOWER MY PRISON’
Many of the ancient and enormous limes of Europe are broad- or large-leaved limes (Tilia platyphyllos). These, and the closely related small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata), belong to the genus Tilia; this comprises some 23 other species and 14 subspecies according to Professor Donald Piggott, though research carried out on species in China and USA may well alter the number of what are acknowledged to be distinct species and subspecies in the future. Of the four species native to Europe, the broad-leaved lime is the first to flower (in late June), generally producing three to five large pale yellow flowers hanging from a whitish-green bract. With a natural range that extends right across Europe from northern Spain and Sweden, east to the Crimea, the Caucasus and Asia Minor, broad-leaved limes have been widely planted in European parks and gardens, and also as street trees in towns, sometimes forming elegant avenues.
The Tassilo Lime near the Bavarian village of Wessobrunn is believed to be around 1,200 years old.
Lime bast and the prehistoric people of Europe
Lime trees were once very important to the ancient peoples of Europe because the fibrous layer or bast, located just under the bark, provided the material from which rope and other essential items could be made. The 5,300-year-old Ice Man discovered in 1991 in the Austrian Alps had a knife sheath made of knotted lime-bast fibres, and dried lime bast inside his shoes to keep his feet warm.
Cordage has been made from lime bast in northern Europe from the Mesolithic period (9000–3000 BC) until the present day. It was traditionally made by stripping sections of bark from trees in midsummer, and submerging this in water to help separate the layers. The outer bark was peeled away to reveal the bast. This could be spun and twisted to make lightweight cords and ropes, stronger when wet than those made from the fibres of any other European tree.
With an impressive crown that forms a towering dome of radiating branches in maturity, the large-leaved lime is regarded as a very shapely tree, capable of reaching giant size, considerable height and very great age. In Lithuania and Poland large, majestic old limes, whose branches may form a canopy over 30m (100ft) up from the ground, make up a large component of the ancient wild forests, such as the famous Bialowieza Forest. France is also noted for some remarkable giant limes, such as the Estry Lime in Calvados, Normandy (said to be over 1000 years old), but it is in Germany that many of the most outstanding ancient individuals are to be seen.
This old coppiced lime in the Lake District in England is believed to be around 1,600 years old.
A huge 1,000-year-old tree, some 30m (100ft) tall and with a wide-spreading canopy, is growing in the Bavarian town of Hoffeld. Almost as tall is the magnificent tree known as the Hindenburg Lime (Hindenburg-Linde), which stands just a few yards from the Alpenstrasse, above the village of Ramsau in south-east Bavaria. This tree is about 26m (85ft) in height, has a trunk 11.5m (38ft) in circumference, a beautiful, broad-spreading crown, and is also believed to be about 1,000 years old.
Coppiced limes are difficult to age, but this practice enables small-leaved limes to live beyond 1,000 years.
Another ancient Bavarian lime tree, the Tassilo-Linde, thought to be at least 1,200 years old, is to be found in the village of Wessobrunn. An enormous tree, its hollow trunk measures 13.3m (44ft) in circumference at breast height. In the eighth century it formed part of the wildwood or Urwald that covered the region, and appears already to have been a large, impressive individual at that time. It is recorded that beneath this tree, Duke Tassilo III lay down to sleep after hunting in the surrounding forest. As he slept, he dreamt that he saw three springs whose waters flowed together in the form of a cross, and that above this spot a Jacob’s ladder appeared, with angels climbing up and down it. On waking from his dream, the duke asked his hunting guides to look for the springs he had dreamt of. A guide named Wezzo (after whom Wessobrunn is named) found the spot and it was here, in the year 753, that the duke decided to found a Benedictine monastery, which, with its baroque and rococo works of art, is well known today. The Tassilo-Linde is only a few minutes’ walk from the monastery and has now become a place of pilgrimage in its own right.
Other impressive ancient limes in Germany with a trunk circumference of 16m (52ft) or more include the tree at Heede, and the trees at Kötzting and Kasberg, both in Bavaria. According to the German publication Unsere Baumveteranen (Our Tree Veterans), 20 trees are listed as having reached at least 1,000 years old. One of these is the lime at Upstedt, near Bockenem in Niedersachsen, said to have been planted in AD 850. The tree that is now possibly the widest of any species in Germany is a huge lime growing at Staffelstein in Bavaria. Some 25m (82ft) in height, its trunk is 24m (79ft) in circumference and 7m (23ft) in diameter – making it one of the broadest-trunked trees in Europe. Legend has it that this tree was planted to celebrate the coronation of King Charlemagne in AD 800. While this cannot be verified, research on the Great Lime of Burghley in Lincolnshire in the UK has shown that the suggested planting date for the tree at Staffelstein may not be unreasonable: in 1986 the Burghley lime had a trunk that measured 2.3m (8ft) in diameter and was known to be 425 years old.
Sweet medicine
Limes produce a mass of sweet-smelling flowers in early summer. A herbal tea can be made from them, and they have also been used to flavour sweets and liqueurs. The famous English physician Nicholas Culpeper (1616–54) recorded that lime-flower tea was good for apoplexy, vertigo and palpitations of the heart, but nowadays it is said to be effective as a general tonic. Lime blossom is also used in some beauty preparations to help soothe the skin. Mixed with lavender flowers, it is sometimes used as a filling for herbal pillows to help induce sleep.
In England, the occurrence of large-leaved limes (which arrived from Europe with their small-leaved relatives about 8,000 years ago) is much more restricted than it is in Germany. However, some enormous specimens are still to be found. Probably the most famous is the striking tree growing at Pitchford Hall in Shropshire, which proudly supports a restored eighteenth-century tree house – replacing one from the seventeenth century – among its giant limbs. Measuring about 7m (23ft) in girth and with branches that are some 2.4m (8ft) in circumference, this tree certainly appears ancient.
The small-leaved lime is also to be seen in European parks and gardens. Confusingly, its attractive leaves are often similar in size to those of its large-leaved relative. This tree was once very important in lowland England and Europe. Discoveries of preserved pollen and fossilized bark-beetles that feed only on lime show that it played a major role in shaping Europe’s native woods. Indeed, it dominated the original wildwood over a large area of the English lowlands and the central European plain, reaching a peak around 5,000 years ago.
Part of the huge coppice stool of a small-leaved lime at Westonbirt Arboretum, once thought to be over 1,000 years old.
The enormous width of many lime trunks and, indeed, the very great ages that these trees can reach has been discovered to be largely due to the ancient practices of pollarding and coppicing. A pollarded tree is one whose trunk has been cut at around 2.5–5.5m (8–18ft): this leaves a permanent broad trunk and over a lengthy period a noticeably swollen ‘pollard head’ or ‘boll’, where new shoots spring up each year. A coppiced tree is cut near ground level, leaving a low base or ‘stool’. Both methods stimulate the production of new shoots, which are also cut when they have reached the right size.
The practice of coppicing produced what was once thought to be the oldest lime in the world. A small-leaved lime growing at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire was estimated to be over 1,000 years old because the enormous coppice stool measured 16m (52ft) across and had 80 individual trunks rising from it. However, recent research into the lime’s response to coppicing has shown that after each ‘harvest’, the coppice stool puts on a spurt of lateral growth that can be equivalent to 50 years of growth rings in some cases. Therefore, large-diameter coppice stools are likely to be much younger than previously supposed. There is, however, evidence to suggest that the ancient coppiced limes living at their northerly limit on steep slopes in the Lake District in the UK may be over 1,600 years old.
Today the existence of ancient coppiced or pollarded limes in woodland is considered to be a good indication that the woodland is very old – directly descended from the wildwood of old. The ancient wild limes in Britain’s woodlands are not, however, the towering trees of majestic proportions still to be found in undisturbed woods elsewhere in Europe (such as France, Poland and Lithuania), and this has led to their ancient status often being overlooked. History shows us that lime trees have been important to people throughout Europe for thousands of years. It is interesting to reflect that ancient woodland-management techniques, performed in the right way and at the right time, actually prolong the life of the tree; indeed, they would seem to make it almost immortal.
Lime avenues such as this one are a common sight across northern Europe.
