Fruit of the lime

The fruit of the lime or linden tree is not a lime.  It is a small bunch of pea-sized nutlets on a stalk, attached to an oblong bract.  The bract acts as a sort of wing to help distribute the seeds in the wind.

Until 20 years ago lime trees hardly ever produced viable seed in the UK.  Although about 6,000 years ago, when the climate was warmer, they were the dominant tree in most of England.    But now, in warm summers, some of them actually germinate and grow into seedling lime trees.  There may be some connection to climate change.

We have two native lime trees the small-leaved lime and the broad-leaved lime.  Their hybrid is the common lime,first imported from the Netherlands in the 17th century.  It is the one with all the sprouts up the trunk.  If you are going to plant one, buy a small-leaved lime as it is the most attractive tree when mature - in my opinion.