Japanese lime

Tilia japonica, the Japanese lime or Japanese linden, is a deciduous tree of the family Malvaceae (formerly Tiliaceae), native to Japan and parts of China, where it grows in mixed mountain forests. It reaches up to about 20 metres tall, with a broad, rounded crown and smooth grey bark that becomes furrowed with age. The alternate leaves are broadly ovate and asymmetrically heart-shaped at the base, with finely toothed margins and a pointed tip, turning yellow in autumn. In early summer it bears fragrant, pale yellow flowers in pendulous cymes, each inflorescence subtended by a distinctive narrow, strap-shaped leafy bract that aids wind dispersal of the small nutlet fruits. Closely allied to the European small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata), it shares the genus's characteristic nectar-rich, honey-scented blossoms that are highly attractive to bees.