Lime Flower Season

Weekend Herb Blogging: Lime Flowers

Grandma called breathless, "Riana, come, come quick..." "what happened" I asked, "did Grandpa fall in the garden again?" (that happened later, by the way)

"Non, c'est le tilleul, il est prêt..."

Ah, the large leave lime flowers (Tilia platyphyllos) that are only there for one week are ready to be harvested to make tissanes--hot teas-- for the rest of the year...I rushed over to her house and just in time, it must have been the sixth day. (It was June 6th, 2006 after all) I loaded up sacs and sacs of these precious sticky hermaphrodite stamins. The bees are responsible for propagating them.

The only warning: If the flowers used for making tea are too old, they may produce symptoms of narcotic intoxication. hmm, I have some old tilleul flowers from two years ago, wonder if I should try it?? Might be fun, n'est pas?

Onto the uses: Young leaves - raw. A delicious addition to salads and sandwiches, the young leaves are mild and tender. A very acceptable chocolate substitute can be made from a paste of the ground-up flowers and immature fruit. A popular herb tea is made from the flowers, it has a sweet, fragrant pleasant flavour. Some caution is advised, see notes above on toxicity. Sap - harvested in the spring, it is sweet and can be used as a drink or concentrated into a syrup.

Medicinal Uses: Lime flowers are a popular domestic remedy for a number of ailments, especially in the treatment of colds and other ailments where sweating is desirable A tea made from the fresh or dried flowers is antispasmodic, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypotensive, laxative and sedative. Lime flower tea is also used internally in the treatment of indigestion, hypertension, hardening of the arteries, hysteria, nervous vomiting or palpitation.

note: I'm bringing some today to my friend Judith who is in the middle of moving, selling one house and buying another and buying a business at the same time. Poor soul needs a "doggie downer" and tilleul with a little vervaine will be perfect for her.

P.s. Yes, this photo was taken with the new camera!!

Weekend herb blogging is at Sweetnicks place this week! If you want to play send her a permalink with your herb write up and she will list them all on Monday.