It's a fickle forage, sometimes only flowering for a week or two a year, but all this warm weather means the scent of common lime blossom (Tilia europaea) is hanging heavy in the air right now. 

I recently dried a batch out to keep for night-time herbal infusions. Lime blossom has a mildly sedative effect and was administered in the field hospitals of World war II for this reason. It is possibly one of the finest herbal teas; gold in colour with a smooth taste and smell. It's particularly popular in France where they call it tilleul and have elevated it almost to an art form.

A second batch has gone into a honey infusion – possibly my favourite way of preserving flowers. See the elderflower and honeysuckle posts for more details on this super simple approach, but to summarise, a good runny honey is wonderful for drawing out the goodness in any plant, preserving it long into the winter, and adding a potent anitbacterial kick to the proceedings.

Foraging considerations.

The lime tree in question is completly unrelated to the lime fruit that you see in the shops. The young spring leaves do have a slightly citrusy taste, which perhaps gives rise to its common name, but I'll write about that another time.

The small-leaved lime was a dominant tree in the forests that formed in the UK after the last Ice Age, sadly though it is now relatively unusual here. However, common lime is widely planted, especially in parks and city streets, making this a great one for the urban forager – no need to worry about dogs either.