Small-leaved lime
One of Europe's best nectar trees; it yields strongly after warm, humid nights and gives pale, fresh-scented lime honey.
- Nectar
- Very good
- Pollen
- Medium
- Flowering
- JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
- Honey yield
- 400–1000 kg/ha
- Crystallisation
- Medium
- Pollen colour
- Height
- 15-30 m
- Life cycle
- Perennial
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Small-leaved lime is one of Europe's most important nectar trees. Its nectar is plentiful and rich in sugar; the flow is strongest on mild, humid nights following hot days. Drought, cold wind or very hot, dry weather can stop secretion, so yields vary greatly from year to year. Aphid honeydew can also get into the honey.
Flowering
It flowers for about 10-15 days from late June to mid-July. It opens about two weeks after large-leaved lime and before silver lime. Its natural range in Turkey is limited; it is seen mostly as a park and street tree.
Honey and pollen
Lime honey is pale yellow to greenish, with a fresh, slightly menthol scent; it crystallises at a moderate rate. Little pollen is collected; it is pale yellow to greenish.
Note for the beekeeper
Different lime species flowering one after another extend the flow. The debate about bumblebee deaths under silver lime does not concern this species.