Tilia cordata

A tree up to 30 m tall with stiff, roundish leaves 3 to 8 cm across that end in a short point.

Leaf undersides are blue-green, with rust-coloured hair tufts in the vein axils, white on young leaves.

Info Flora gives June to July as the flowering period in Switzerland.

A Bavarian forestry institute article says small-leaved lime follows at the end of June, and the lime flowering season of about six weeks ends in late July.

In Switzerland it grows in forests and on bushy slopes from the colline to montane belt, but most trees are planted.

Nectar is produced by nectaries made of hairs on the inner base of the sepals.

A Lublin study calls small-leaved lime a good food source for bees and names bees as the main pollinators of its flowers.

Lime flowers already offer nectar during their male phase.

The Bavarian LWG rates small-leaved lime and its cultivars N4 for nectar and P1 for pollen, on a literature-based scale where 4 is best.

Besides nectar and pollen, bees also collect honeydew on lime trees.

Lime honey is very aromatic and contains honeydew as well as lime nectar.

The Celle bee institute describes lime honey as light to dark beige, with an intensely aromatic, menthol-like aroma.