C. Large-leaved Lime (Tilia platyphyllos)

Limewood is one of the softest of our native hardwoods, has good grain and generally even texture, and is favoured by woodcarvers, and for making pencils. The extraordinary wood carving in Petworth House's Carved Room was executed in the 1690s by Grinling Gibbons using wood from lime trees. The bast fibres are used to make garden ties and plaited articles.

The yellowish fragrant flowers appear in July.

Most medicinal research has focused on Tilia cordata, although other species are also used medicinally and somewhat interchangeably. The dried flowers are mildly sweet and sticky, and the fruit is somewhat sweet and mucilaginous. Limeflower tea has a pleasing taste, due to the aromatic volatile oil found in the flowers. The flowers, leaves, wood, and charcoal (obtained from the wood) are used for medicinal purposes. Active ingredients in the Tilia flowers include flavonoids (which act as antioxidants), volatile oils, and mucilaginous constituents (which soothe and reduce inflammation). The plant also contains tannins that can act as astringents. Tilia flowers are used medicinally for colds, cough, fever, infections, inflammation, high blood pressure, headache (particularly migraine), and as a diuretic (increases urine production), antispasmodic (reduces smooth muscle spasm along the digestive tract), and sedative. New evidence shows that the flowers may be hepatoprotective. The flowers were added to baths to quell hysteria, and steeped as a tea to relieve anxiety-related indigestion, irregular heartbeat, and vomiting. The leaves are used to promote sweating to reduce fevers. The wood is used for liver and gallbladder disorders and cellulitis (inflammation of the skin and surrounding soft tissue). Lime wood burned to charcoal is ingested to treat intestinal disorders and used topically to treat edema or infection such as cellulitis or ulcers of the lower leg.

Large-leaved Lime trees support a wide range of insects. Various moths lay their eggs on the tree's leaves, thereby providing the emerging caterpillars with their favourite food. The tree's springtime flowers provide nectar for bees and other pollinators. Bees also feed on the honeydew (a sugary, sticky liquid) secreted by aphids and other scale insects that feed on the tree's sap. Hoverflies and ladybirds are attracted by these aphids, which they consume in huge numbers. Stand under the Large-leaved Lime tree in the north-west section of the Cemetery between April and October, and you will practically be guaranteed to see hoverflies there!