The Silver Lime of Druifstreek

In a breeze this tree changes colour. A silver lime carries dark green leaves that are covered underneath in white felt, so a gust turns the whole crown pale for a second and then back again. That is exactly why the local IVN nature volunteers put it on their monumental-trees walk through the city. The felt is the field mark that separates Tilia tomentosa from the common lime lining half the streets in this country, including Leeuwarden's own two royal limes, one on the Raadhuisplein and one on the Jacobijnerkerkhof. This is not one of those. It is a southeast European tree, from the Balkans and Anatolia, planted in northern cities because it copes with hard ground and dry summers better than the native limes do. It stands on the Druifstreek, opposite the Blokhuispoort, on a stretch of the old centre people walk without looking up. The same IVN walk names a second silver lime a few hundred metres north on the Eewal, so once you have learned the leaf you can collect the pair in ten minutes. Nobody has dated this one. No register carries it, no source gives a planting year, and nobody has taped the trunk. If you know when it went in, or you have a tape measure and thirty seconds, tell us.