Tilia cordata Small-leaved Lime

A large deciduous tree which is found throughout much of southern Britain in calcareous, neutral and acidic woodland and on cliffs. While it is undoubtedly native in Britain it is often planted in parks and woodland which makes it difficult to ascertain its status in some regions. Two of its characteristic features are that the flowers are held more or less erect above the leaves and the leaves are more or less hairless when mature. Much of our knowledge of the ecology of this iconic tree in Britain has come from studies made by Donald Pigott. In his account in the Biological Flora of the British Isles series in the Journal of Ecology (vol. 79, pp 1147- 1207), published in 1991, he explaims how seed production requires relatively long periods of warmth in summer which happens only rarely in the cool temperate climate that prevails in much of Britain and particularly in Wales. With continuing climate warming seed production may become more common in the future. Yet despite this, as George Peterken points out in Trees and Woodlands (2023), Small-leaved Lime survives because trees are long-lived and seemingly capable of maintaining themsleves idefininetly. When coppiced the stools give rise vigorously to new poles and mature trees produce lots of base sprouts that grow to become substantial trunks. Some old trees have massive bases with several trunks and where trees occur there are often several close together. The extent to which these clusters are clones or individuals is often difficult to tell, but many large trees must be centuries old and some trees with huge bases may be over 1,000 years old. Small-leaved lime is native in West Glamorgan and there are some fine examples in the Gower Ash Woodlands, e.g. in the Bishopston Valley and on Crawley Cliffs. It is also scattered in the middle and upper parts of the Vale of Neath, with some large, multi-stemmed trees alongside the River Neath between Resolven an Pont Nedd Fechan. Some outstanding, massive old trees occur along the Nedd Fechan river. Younger, isolated trees may be encountered almost anywhere, particularly in parks or near urban areas, and most of these have probably been planted.