Tilia mongolica Maxim., commonly known as Mongolian lime, is a tree native to mountains of the northern China, growing up to elevations of 1200–2200 m.Tang, Y., Gilbert, M. G., & Dorr, L. J. Tiliaceae, in Wu, Z. & Raven, P. (eds) (2007). Flora of China, Vol. 12. Science Press, Beijing, and Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis, USA.
Description Mongolian lime is a small slow-growing deciduous tree of rounded, compact habit, usually reaching < 10 m in height. The dense, twiggy growth and glabrous reddish shoots bear leaves 4–7.5 cm long, typically coarsely toothed with 3–5 lobes, superficially resembling ivy or maple leaves. The emergent leaves are bronze, turning glossy green in summer, and bright yellow in autumn.Hillier & Sons (1977). Hillier's Manual of Trees & Shrubs. 4th edition. David & Charles, Newton Abbot, UK. The greenish-white flowers are borne in clusters of 6–20 in June and July.More, D. and White. J. (2003). Trees of Britain and Northern Europe, p.691. Cassell's, London.
Natural distribution Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Beijing, Liaoning, isolated locality in North Korea.
History of discovery and cultivation 1863: In the summer the Mongolian lime was first collected by Pere David on slopes of the Baihua mountainKilpatrick, J. (2014). Fathers of botany: the discovery of Chinese plants by European missionaries. University of Chicago Press, Chicago; Chapter 2 in the Taihang mountain range about 120 km west to Beijing city center.Jin-Tun Zhang, Bin Xu, Min Li. (2013). Vegetation Patterns and Species Diversity Along Elevational and Disturbance Gradients in the Baihua Mountain Reserve, Beijing, China. Mountain Research and Development, 33(2):170-178 The specimens collected by David can be seen in the herbarium of the National Museum of Natural History, Paris.Tilia mongolica Maxim. Herbarium of the National Museum of Natural History, France (archive).
1871: 12 July it was collected by Nikolay Przhevalsky on southern slope of Muni-ula in western part of the Yin Mountains in Inner Mongolia.Maximowiez C.J. Diagnoses de plantes nouvelles de l’Asie III. Bulletin de l'Académie impériale des sciences de St.-Pétersbourg (1880) 26(3): 433-434 One of Przhevalsky's specimens is held as an isotype in the herbarium of the Kew Gardens, London.Tilia mongolica Maxim. in: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2021). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew - Herbarium Specimens.
1877: Again collected on the Baihua mountain by Emil Bretschneider.
1880: Karl Maximovich published first scientific description of the tree based on the specimens collected by Przhevalsky and Bretschneider.
1880: Bretschneider sent seed to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris.
1882: Bretschneider sent seed to the Arnold Arboretum at Boston.
1896: A tree in the Jardin des Plantes, raised from the seed sent by Bretschneider, flowered. Some of the gathered seed were sent to the Kew Gardens.
1907: A tree raised in the Kew Gardens flowered while only 1.5 m high.Tilia mongolica Maxim. in: Bean, W. J. Trees and shrubs hardy in the British Isles. 8th edition (online edition)]
1913: Тhe Mongolian lime was introduced to commerce in the UK by Harry Veitch at the Coombe Wood Nursery from material collected for him by William Purdom in northern China.
Notable trees A tree planted in 1896–1897 at the Kew Gardens reached in 2014 the height 14 m and still flourishes.
The TROBI champion tree grows at Thorp Perrow Arboretum, Yorkshire. Planted in 1936, it measured 20 m tall by 59 cm d.b.h. in 2004.Johnson, O. (ed.). (2011). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London.
A specimen planted in 1983 grows at Exbury Gardens in Hampshire.
References
Literature
pp. 160–167.