Tilia tomentosa Moench

One of the most striking features of many selections of Tilia tomentosa is the juxtaposition of their green and 'silver' leaves, fully evident on this example growing in Berkshire, UK, by the middle of July 2019. Image Tom Christian.

Gigantic domed crown of the famous Silver Lime at Tortworth in Gloucestershire, UK. Image Owen Johnson.

The bole of the Tortworth Silver Lime. Image Owen Johnson.

Tilia tomentosa 24 m tall at Abbey Park, Leicester, UK, photographed in July 2015 when the tree had begun to turn the silver sides of its leaves outwards as a response to drought stress. Image Owen Johnson.

Tilia tomentosa flowers, photographed on a tree in the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire, UK, in late July 2019. Image Tom Christian.

Foliage on Tilia tomentosa, from a Hungarian wild origin tree at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK (28 July 2011). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Leaf variability on Tilia tomentosa, with the lamina usually orbicular, sometimes apically lobulate (Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, UK – 28 July 2011). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

'Bori'

A form with a compact, rounded-crown selected in Hungary before 1985 in a programme to identify heat tolerant woody plants for urban sites (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014). It is offered by nurseries in Hungary, sometimes as low grafts: this last observation seems to argue against the suggestion (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014) that the Dutch ‘Hungary Globe’, which seems to require top grafting to produce a standard, represents the same clone.

'Brabant'

A Dutch clone with a broad, conical crown with a well-developed central stem, which makes it relatively wind resistant. It originated in the village of Hoeven, North Brabant province, before 1930 (Bean 1981; Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014). This is a large variety, much marketed in Europe as a shade tree for streets and avenues. In Britain, specimens had reached 17 m at Pine Lodge, Cornwall by 2014 and at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire by 2017 (Tree Register 2018).

The following are similar but much less widely distributed (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014): ‘Doornik’ (syn. Kortrijk’: Belgium, pre-1930); ‘Nijmegen’ (Netherlands, pre-1980); ‘Petrov’ (Czech Republic, pre-1994). Better known is the Hungarian ‘Szeleste’ (q.v.).

Tilia tomentosa 'Brabant' (University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, Vancouver, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

A shoot of Tilia tomentosa 'Brabant' (University of British Columbia Botanical Garden, Vancouver, June 2023). Image John Grimshaw.

A tree of c. 30 years of age at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, labelled Tilia tomentosa 'Nijmegen', this clone is very similar to 'Brabant'. July 2019. Image Tom Christian.

'Erecta'

A narrow-crowned, upright selection first listed by the Hesse nursery, Germany in 1958 (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014). It seems to have fallen out of commerce, but the name is often mentioned in books, and trees so labelled are in collections on both sides of the Atlantic, some looking ‘not too different from the species especially with age’ (Dirr 2009).

f. rhodopetala Borbás

'Grey Pillar'

A relatively narrow-crowned form, selected in Hungary before 1992 (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014), and offered by several large European nurseries as a street tree.

'Hergest Silver'

A linden with exceptionally white-backed leaves growing in the old nursery at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire, of unknown origin but seemingly T. tomentosa, has been named ‘Hergest Silver’ by Lawrence and Elizabeth Banks. It has been propagated and distributed from Hergest Croft (WL Banks, pers. comm. to John Grimshaw 2019).

The original plant of Tilia tomentosa 'Hergest Silver' growing behind the old nursery wall at Hergest Croft, its foliage seemingly shimmering in the summer sun. July 2019. Image Tom Christian.

The original tree of Tilia tomentosa 'Hergest Silver' at Hergest Croft, 29 May 2020. Its bright white leaf undersides make it exceptionally showy. Image R. Griffiths.

The underside of the leaves of Tilia tomentosa 'Hergest Croft' showing the dense layer of white hairs. Image R. Griffiths.

'Orbicularis'

A member of Petiolaris Group (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014), this is a large tree to 30 m with the general habit of ‘Petiolaris’. It is rather more pendulous, with a more conical crown; the leaves have shorter petioles, are very glossy above, and are grey- rather than silvery-tomentose beneath, remaining on the tree until late October (Bean 1981). It was raised at the Simon-Louis Freres nursery near Metz, France, in 1868 as a seedling from ‘Petiolaris’; their nursery manager, E. Jouin supposed that the pollen parent was T. × euchlora, which grew nearby (Bean 1981). While T. × euchlora produces no seed, it is not inconceivable that it produces a little fertile pollen, but this hybrid origin has never been confirmed, and the careful Jablonski & Plietzsch (2014) are content to list it under T. tomentosa.

Large specimens labelled ‘Orbicularis’ include a tree on the Mariemont estate, Hainaut, Belgium (29.4 m, dbh 460 cm, 2015 – monumentaltrees.com 2020) and one at Glasnevin National Botanic Gardens, Dublin (22 m, dbh 203 cm, 2012 – Tree Register 2020). It is rare but not extinct in the nursery trade (Pan-Global Plants 2020).

Petiolaris Group

Forms with unusually long petioles and graceful, drooping branches belong here, and appear to be sterile. There is more than one clone in circulation, but it is unclear exactly how many. We follow Jablonski & Plietzsch (2014) in treating this as a cultivar group, which both allows for uncertainty over the identity of some clones, and sidesteps the dilemma of whether to conserve a famliar but more recent name.

The very familiar name ‘Petiolaris’ and the less familiar and probably more recent ‘Pendula’ belong here. Most specimens are named as one or the other. They probably represent a single clone (Bean 1981; Pigott 2012) but nobody can be certain: it seems best to maintain the existing labelling of stocks, ‘Petiolaris’ being the familiar and commercially available one. The slight twisting of the long petioles means that in addition to the graceful shape, the white undersides of many leaves are visible. Grimshaw (2013) rates it as ‘one of the noblest of big trees…rivalling anything’. A clone fitting this description was certainly in British cultivation by 1842 (Elwes & Henry 1906). The 19th-century French ‘Orbicularis’ (q.v.) belongs here, as does the 20th-century Dutch ‘Mat’.

‘Chelsea Sentinel’ resembles ‘Petiolaris’ but has a broadly columnar habit; it was propagated from a tree at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London and introduced by Hillier Nurseries in 1987, the same year the original tree blew down.

As a tree of great beauty and vigour (and ultimate stature), ‘Petiolaris’ / ‘Pendula’ remains a popular ornamental. It is possibly the most fragrant of all lindens, scenting the landscape for hundreds of metres around a tree. The nectar-rich flowers attract immense numbers of all sorts of insects, somewhat countering the view that the nectar is poisonous to bees; dried they make a delicious tisane. Early trees were grafted at heights of up to 3 m – for example a large one in the City of Bath Botanical Gardens, Somerset – presumably in the expectation that they would weep straight back to the ground; the scion generally outgrows the stock of Tilia × europaea or T. platyphyllos in an alarming but not intrinsically unstable fashion (O. Johnson, pers. obs.). An old example at the Curraghchase Forest Park in Co. Limerick, Ireland, was apparently grafted on typical T. tomentosa, branches from which have invaded the crown (Tree Register 2018). The largest in Britain include one of 1.76 m dbh (in 2008) at Wigginton Old Rectory in Oxfordshire, a tree 31 m, dbh 173 cm (in 2016) near the Compton Chamberlayne cricket field in Wiltshire, one of 1.64 m dbh (in 2017) at Hatherop School in Gloucestershire, and an especially shapely one of 31 m, dbh 151 cm (in 2014) at Stonepitts Manor in Kent (Tree Register 2018). A very old-looking tree in the deer-park at Melbury in Dorset has a hollow bole which has separated into two parts.

Similarly impressive specimens are found across western and central Europe (monumentaltrees.com 2020). Trees labelled ‘Pendula’ have long been in North American cultivation, but it remains rare; Jacobson (1996) mentions a specimen in Villanova, PA being 40 m tall in 1980.

‘Orbicularis’ is now rare. There is a tree in Glasnevin National Botanic Garden in Dublin (22 m, dbh 65 cm – Tree Register 2018); grafted specimens taken from it are grown at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire and at Peasmarsh Place, East Sussex. There is another old specimen on the Mariemont Estate, Belgium (29 m in 2015 – monumentaltrees.com 2020). A specimen of ‘Chelsea Sentinel’ at Bute Park, Cardiff, planted in 1988, was 17 m tall by 2013 (Tree Register 2018).

Summer crown of the Silver Pendent Lime, Tilia tomentosa Petiolaris Group; Killiechassie, Perthshire. Image Owen Johnson.

Another magnificent example of Tilia tomentosa Petiolaris Group in early spring: Stonepitts Manor, Kent. Image Owen Johnson.

Tilia tomentosa Petiolaris Group at RBG Kew, December 2025. Image John Grimshaw.

Tilia tomentosa Petiolaris Group is readily identifiable out of leaf, as the scion often outgrows the stock leaving the tree with a top-heavy appearance. Ross-on-Wye parish churchyard, Herefordshire, UK. April 2023. Image Aidan Champion.

Tilia tomentosa 'Petiolaris' remains popular and is still widely planted. Here at Highgrove, Gloucestershire, UK, it has been used to great effect in a curving avenue on the main drive. Image Tom Christian.

A magnificent example of Tilia tomentosa Petiolaris Group in a parkland setting at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire, UK, photographed September 2019. Image Tom Christian.

An old specimen of Tilia tomentosa Petiolaris Group glowing orange in afternoon sunlight in Bridport, Dorset, UK. October 2025. Image Aidan Champion.

'PNI 6051'

A particularly vigorous and heat-tolerant clone, making a dense, broadly pyramidal to oval crown. Selected by Princeton Nurseries, New Jersey by 1990 (Jacobson 1996; Dirr 2009; Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014).

'Sashazam'

Broadly pyramidal-crown, at least in youth. An important clone in the North American nursery trade, selected by Lake County Nursery, Ohio before 1990 (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014; Lake County Nursery 2020).

'Silver Globe'

A rounded, shrubby variety normally top grafted in the European trade to give a standard with a small, round crown. Brought from Hungary to the Netherlands in 1985, named 1988. It is slightly larger than ‘Hungary Globe’ (see comments under ‘Bori’). ‘Teri’ is probably a synonym. (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014; van den Berk Nurseries 2020)

'Sisi'

Symmetrical, neat, ovoid crown with very regular, sharply ascending branches, at least in youth. In Hungary, the foliage emerges 8–10 days later than other varieties, autumn colour starts 4–5 days earlier, and flowering is late. Selected by Elemér Barabits at the Alsótekeresi nursery, Hungary and released in 2019, it is a protected variety in Europe, in production on a large scale at the Alsótekeresi nursery, and set to become a widely-planted selection in central Europe (Alsótekeresi Faiskola 2019; T. Christian, pers. comm. 2020).

Tilia tomentosa 'Sisi' planted at the entrance to the Alsótekeresi Nursery in Hungary where it was raised. Image Tom Christian.

'Sterling'

Selected for its ‘impressive’ (Dirr 2009) symmetrical crown with ascending branches, from seedlings acquired by Illinois nurseryman Willet Wandell in 1957. Granted US Plant Patent 6511 in 1989 (Justia 2020), it has become one of the most important trade clones in North America, and is also available in Europe.

'Szeleste'

Compact, pyramidal-crown becoming more broadly conical, rather resembling ‘Brabant’; petals small and deformed (this probably of little horticultural significance). The original tree (25 m tall in 2009) grew at the Arboretum Szeleste, Hungary; it was in Dutch cultivation by 1982 and is marketed in Europe as a street tree (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014; van den Berk Nurseries 2020).

'Varsaviensis'

A tree characterized by a narrow, pyramidal, and very dense crown, with a strong central leader and a markedly tapering trunk. It can reach approximately 25 m in height and c.10 m in width. The young branchlets are at first densely tomentose, becoming glabrous with age. In winter, the shoots are dark raspberry-red. The leaves resemble those of Tilia tomentosa. They are usually rounded or slightly elongated, often with a characteristic large tooth on one of the blade halves, and have a cordate base with a long petiole. The lower surface of the leaf blade is covered with a thin, greyish tomentum, while the upper surface is dark green and slightly glossy, with prominently impressed veins. The leaves are also somewhat thinner than is typical of Tilia tomentosa. Its leaves turn a beautiful lemon yellow and are usually retained until late autumn. The inflorescences are mostly concealed within the densely branched crown. Flowering usually occurs at approximately the same time as in the Silver Lime, or just slightly earlier. The inflorescences contain a similar number of flowers to those of T. tomentosa. Their bracts are 6–10 mm wide and very strongly curved upwards. The fruits are globose, smooth to slightly ribbed, and covered with grey tomentum, and often retain the dried style. The infructescences are shed at the same time as the leaves (Wrzesiński 1938; Kobendza 1951; Seneta & Dolatowski 2025)

The Warsaw Linden was first noticed by Józef Wrzesiński (a Warsaw municipal gardener and head of the city’s municipal nurseries in Praga, a district of Warsaw, specialized in lindens) in 1926 and was first mentioned in print by Antoni Zaleski in 1930. Zaleski described a number of lime trees planted in Warsaw that had originated in the municipal nurseries in the Praga district, on the right bank of the River Vistula. According to his account, this distinctive form had arisen in the municipal nurseries approximately 25 years earlier, around 1905 (Zaleski 1930). It did not originate in the Warsaw Botanic Garden, as has been stated in some later sources (Krüssmann 1986; Jacobson 1996; Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014; Lobdell, Jablonski & Worcester 2023).

Its remarkable habit attracted the attention of several dendrologists and horticulturists, including Wrzesiński, Zaleski, and Kobendza (1951). The original tree grew on Zieleniecka Avenue, near the entrance to Poniatowski Bridge, in the row of lime trees on the southern side of the avenue. Counting from the bridge, it was the fourteenth tree in the row (Zaleski 1930), and tagged with number 2 according to Wrzesiński (1938). The trees growing near Poniatowski Bridge were severely damaged during the Second World War, including the original Warsaw Linden. Fortunately, Wrzesiński had already ensured its propagation. In 1926, scions were transferred to the municipal nurseries, which began to be relocated that same year to Rakowiec in the Mokotów district. Several dozen specimens were propagated there at the time (Wrzesiński 1938).
After the war, it was discovered that the Warsaw Linden had survived in the nurseries. The trees that had survived there were then used to replant the devastated city. Twenty-five-year-old specimens were successfully transplanted in 1949 alongside the W–Z Route (near the tunnel under Castle Square) in Warsaw (Zielonko 1951, Rokosza 2008). Among the trees still growing there is what may be both the oldest and the largest specimen of the cultivar.

The Warsaw Linden is now widely cultivated in Poland and is also offered by numerous nurseries elsewhere in Europe. The cultivar is considered tolerant of drought and performs well in demanding urban environments. Its growth rate is moderate, but its compact and densely branched crown makes it a valuable tree for urban planting (Lobdell, Jablonski & Worcester 2023). It was introduced to North America in 1965 by the landscape architect Mrs J. Stensson of Oakville, Ontario. That same year, it was registered there as ‘Mrs Stensson’ (Wyman 1966), which should therefore be regarded as a later synonym of the earlier name ‘Varsaviensis’, proposed by Kobendza (Kobendza 1951; Jacobson 1996).

Zaleski (1930) was the first author to refer to this tree in Polish as “lipa warszawska”, meaning “Warsaw Linden”. Kobendza (1951) subsequently proposed the Latinised cultivar epithet ‘Varsaviensis’ while describing the tree as a hybrid between Tilia platyphyllos and T. tomentosa. This presumed hybrid origin, as well as the treatment of the cultivar simply as Tilia ‘Varsaviensis’, continues to appear in the literature. However, Borowski and Solecka (1980) demonstrated that the Warsaw Linden is not a hybrid but a selection of Tilia tomentosa. It should therefore be classified as Tilia tomentosa ‘Varsaviensis’.

Tilia tomentosa 'Varsaviensis', planted in Warsaw, Poland, in 1949, showing the typical crown form of a mature tree. It is the oldest known specimen and probably also the largest. Image © Mateusz Korbik.

Dense crown of a young Tilia tomentosa 'Varsaviensis' specimen in Ruchenka, Poland. Image © Mateusz Korbik.

Dark green upper surface with prominently impressed veins and grey tomentum on the lower surface. The large tooth characteristic of Tilia tomentosa 'Varsaviensis' is also visible. Image © Mateusz Korbik.

Tilia tomentosa 'Varsaviensis' in the Łódź Botanical Garden, Poland. Young leaves and shoots are covered with whitish tomentum, which wears off fairly quickly. A single large tooth is visible on most leaves. Image © Małgorzata Godlewska.

Leaves of Tilia tomentosa 'Varsaviensis' with characteristic grey tomentum, long petiole, and large tooth on one of the blade halves (Provinciaal domein Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium, 28 July 2011). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar..

'Wagner János'

An extraordinary selection whose petals have long pink tips, made from a wild tree by the Hungarian dendrologist János Wagner before 1950. This tree was originally described as T. tomentosa var. inaequalis f. rhodopetala Borbás (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014), though var. inaequalis is no longer recognised. There is a specimen in the Budai Arboretum, Hungary (Szent István Egyetem 2020) and it is said to have been grown in Germany (Jablonski & Plietzsch 2014), but this cultivar surely deserves a wider distribution.