Fatal attraction
ANYONE walking through London’s Green Park in the middle of July will be captivated by an unforgettable fragrance. The source of this scent is an avenue of lime trees or lindens. For a few weeks each summer, they become, in the words of Richard Mabey, ‘Britain’s noisiest trees’, as hundreds of murmuring bees descend on the sweet-smelling flowers. Sometimes, the insects become so intoxicated they fall to the ground in a stupefied state.
x , the common lime or linden, is a popular species in city parks thanks to its tolerance of pollution and pollarding, but its lineage is venerable. One of its parents, , the small-leaved lime, dates back to the end of the last Ice Age, when it was queen of the
