Tilia cordataMill.

Littleleaf LindenSmall-leaved Limesmall-leaved limelittleleaf linden

WFO wfo-0000457451 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Tilia cordata, photographed by Нурхайдарова Татьяна
fig. a Нурхайдарова Татьяна, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205195721
Tilia cordata, photographed by tomisc
fig. b tomisc, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204595013
Tilia cordata, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. c Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203245866
Tilia cordata, photographed by Yann Kemper
fig. d Yann Kemper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 203010516
Tilia cordata, photographed by Оксана Серикова
fig. e Оксана Серикова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203599777
Tilia cordata, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. f Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 202815865
Tilia cordata, photographed by snaily_naily
fig. g snaily_naily, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201603474
Tilia cordata, photographed by Anastasia_Surkova
fig. h Anastasia_Surkova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201642402

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 39 botanical countries

Regions where Tilia cordata is native: Altay, Iran, Kazakhstan, Krasnoyarsk, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, West Siberia, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AltayIranKazakhstanKrasnoyarskNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusWest SiberiaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine
Native distribution of Tilia cordata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Kazakhstan KAZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
West Siberia WSB

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 79 in flower of 450 examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Tilia cordata observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 79 of 450 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 35 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Tilia amurensis var. sibirica (Fisch. ex Bayer) Y.C.Chu
  • Tilia angulata Hayne ex Bayer
  • Tilia betulifolia Hofm. ex Bayer
  • Tilia bohemica Rupr.
  • Tilia bohemica Opiz
  • Tilia bracteolata Host ex Bayer
  • Tilia cordata f. ekebergensis H.Lindb.
  • Tilia cordata var. borbasiana Heinr.Braun ex Borbás
  • Tilia cordata var. eriocarpa Hofm. ex Borbás
  • Tilia cordata var. macrodonta Borbás
  • Tilia cordata var. ovalifolia Spach ex Borbás
  • Tilia cordata var. pyramidalis Wittm.
  • Tilia cordata var. ulmifolia (Scop.) Borbás
  • Tilia eriocarpa Hofm. ex V.Engl.
  • Tilia europaea subsp. parvifolia Ehrh.
  • Tilia europaea var. parviflora (Ehrh.) Aiton
  • Tilia foemina Bayer
  • Tilia hoffmanniana Opiz
  • Tilia hollandica Bayer
  • Tilia intermedia Ten.
  • Tilia jacquiniana Heinr.Braun ex V.Engl.
  • Tilia latebracteata Host
  • Tilia macrophylla H.Lév.
  • Tilia microphylla Vent.

and 11 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.