The Central Collection
First published 1st Jul, 2024
Lime (common name)
What3Words: ///mint.social.parent
Tag No: 2317
Botanical Name: Tilia chingiana
Year first gained champion status: 2023
Champion for height, girth, or both: H+G
Year Planted: 1992
Planted by: Unknown
Brief description: Tilia chingiana is a deciduous tree growing to 15 m tall, its bark grey and smooth. The cordate leaves are offset at the base, 5–10 cm long, and borne on 2.5–4.0 cm petioles. In China the tree flowers during June and July. The seeds occur singly or in pairs, and are relatively large, averaging 12 mm long by 8 mm diameter; over four times the size of Small-leafed lime seeds.
Chinese Cork Tree
///Chin.fled.oval
3120
Phellodendron Chinese, 2023, H(wales) + G, 1950-55, W.Nelmes Snr
Phellodendron chinense is a wide-spreading tree up to about 15 metres tall. It has dark green, leathery, pinnate leaves, up to 38cm long and comprising seven to thirteen oblong leaflets. They turn yellow in autumn. Greenish-yellow, drooping flowers appear in early summer, followed on female trees by black berry-like fruits that ripen in autumn.
Monterey cypress ‘Donald Gold’
///Often.sofa.shark
2375
Cupressus macrocarpa, 2023, H(wales) + G, Unknown, Unknown
Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Donard Gold’ is a variant of the Monterey cypress Cupressus macrocarpa native to California. It is a medium sized, conical tree with upswept foliage of deep golden yellow.
Butterball crab
///Rounds.manliness.roof
2376
Malus ‘Butterball’, 2023, H+ G, 1991-92, M.Frazer
Malus ‘Butterball’ is a small, spreading tree with drooping branches. Its leaves open grey-green in spring and mature to bright green. White flowers flushed with pink appear in late spring with the leaves. The fruits are 2 to 3cm round apples, yellow with a red-orange flush
Cheltenham crab
///Region.cook.handy
2371
Malus ‘Cheltneham’, 2023,G, 1960s, W.Nelmes Snr
No sources of information have been found for Malus ‘Cheltenham’. Two examples of this cultivar are known to exist, one at Bute Park, Cardiff and the other at Dyffryn Gardens, Vale of Glamorgan. For Bute Park the name occurred on 1950s hand-drawn planting plans made by William Nelmes Senior, who was planting the arboretum from the late 1940s until the mid 1960s. At Dyffryn Gardens, in 1997, there was on old-looking label on the tree. Both trees are believed to have been planted in the 1960s.
Exzcellenz thiel crab
///Twist.assure.perky
2382
Malus scheideckeri ‘Exzcellenz thiel’, 2023, G, 1950s, W.Nelmes Snr
Malus scheideckeri ‘Excellenz Theil’ is a small tree with a very pendulous habit. It has semi double flowers, deep pink in bud and opening white-pink.
Frau luise dittmann crab
///Twist.assure.perky
2401
Malus ‘Frau Luise Dittmann’, 2023, H(Wales) + G, Unknown, Unknown
Malus ‘Frau Luise Dittmann’ has large, double pink flowers approximately 3cm in diameter. The fruits are yellow and about 2.5cm
Winter gold
///Manage.popped.boots
2372
Malus baccata, 2023, H+ G, Unknown, Unknown
Malus baccata is a small to medium sized tree, growing up to 15 metres in height. It has a rounded shape that becomes wide spreading with age. The bark is brown and closely cracked, and the leaves matt green, elliptic in shape. Fragrant white flowers from pink buds appear in mid spring with the new leaves. The fruits are small, berry-like, and bright yellow or red.
Oporto Crab
///Doctor.shout.rush
2409
Malus x Purpurea ‘Oporto’, 2023, G, 1950s, W.Nelmes Snr
Malus x purpurea ‘Oporto’ has vivid red spring flowers, purple-red foliage and small purple-red fruits.
Hawthorn leaved Crab apple
///Scar.pines.porch
2428
Malus x sublobata, 2023, H+G(wales), 1950s, W.Nelmes Snr
Malus x sublobata is a small pyramidal tree. Its leaves are narrow-elliptic (4 to 8cm long), narrower than most apples and with occasional lobes on new growth. The flowers are 4cm across and pale pink, and they are followed by yellow-orange fruits.
Sargent’s Cherry
///Money.flash.pulse
2553
Prunus sargentii ‘ Rancho’, 2023, H(wales)+G, 1992, Unknown
This American cultivar is much like the species but is smaller in size and has an upright, vase-shaped crown. Leaves emerge coppery-brown, turning green in summer. The autumn colours are a most pleasing fiery red and orange. In mid-April pink flowers cover the tree, sometimes followed by glossy orange, red, and purple-black fruit. Hardy.
Aliso
///Wallet.moon.notes
2447
Alnus acuminata, 2023, H(wales)+G, 1993-4, M.Frazer
Alnus acuminata is native to the mountainous regions of Central and South America, grows up to 25 metres tall with a pyramidal crown. It has smooth, grey-brown bark. The male flowers are pendulous catkins up to 12cm long, while the female flowers are green and resemble a small cone. They develop into 2cm long woody brown fruits containing many seeds, and they remain on the tree after the seeds disperse.
Maximowiczi’s alder
///Wallet.moon.notes
2477
Alnus maximowiczii, 2023, H+G (wales), 1989-90, M.Frazer
Alnus maximowiczii is a small tree, often with a shrubby form and stems. It can reach 9 – 12 m tall and has grey bark. The leaves are large, heart-shaped, glossy bright green and finely toothed. Flowering is in late spring. The male flowers are stout, yellowish catkins about 5cm long, while the female flowers are short and red/maroon.
Cherry Ichiyo
///Posed.rents.score
2533
Prunus ‘ichiyo’, 2023, G, 1990-91, M.Frazer
Prunus ‘Ichiyo’ is a small, spreading tree up to 8 metres in height and breadth, with ascending main branches. Its young leaves are pale brown or light bronze, soon becoming green, and turning red and orange in autumn. The flowers are pale pink, eventually fading to white. They are borne in drooping, long-stalked clusters in mid spring. ‘Ichiyo’ means ‘one-leaf’ in Japanese, a reference to a leaf-like pistil in the centre of the flower.
Cherry ‘Sumizome’
///Trip.cheese.makes
2439
Prunus ‘Sumizome’, 2023, H(Wales) + G, Unknown, Unknown
Prunus ‘Sumizome’ as cultivated in Britain was first introduced by Collingwood Ingram from the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusets, USA. Ingram described it as a vase-shaped tree up to 6 metres tall, its young foliage bronze-green to dark green. The flowers are double, with twelve to fourteen petals and 4.7cm in diameter. They are purple-pink in bud, becoming soft pink.
Cherry ‘Sunset Boulevard’
///Trip.cheese.makes
2438
Prunus ‘Sunset Boulevard’, 2023, H(Wales) + G, 1995, M.Frazer
Prunus ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is initially a narrow, conical tree, but broadens with age to a more oval shape. It can grow to around 12 metres tall. Its leaves are elliptical and medium sized for a cherry. They emerge coppery in colour, turning green and finally golden yellow in autumn. Large (4cm across) flowers appear with the young leaves. They are white tinged with pink at the edges, held on the tree in pairs, and lasting longer than many other cherries.
Miyama alder
///Listed.corn.trim
2498
Alnus fauriei, 2022, H + G, 1992, Unknown
Alnus fauriei is a small tree with distinctive leaves. These are smooth, glossy green, toothed and broadly wedge-shaped or almost round. Their size varies but can be up to to 10cm long and 13cm across. The flowers are showy catkins, up to 17cm in length, appearing during early spring before the leaves emerge.
Hill Cherry
///Ears.zoom.glaze
2589
Prunus jamasakura , 2023, G, Unknown, Unknown
A wide-spreading tree with oblong, dark green leaves, bronzed in spring, red and yellow in autumn. In mid- to late spring bears a profusion of single, white, cup-shaped flowers in small clusters, followed by small, dark red, cherry-like fruit
Cardinal Royal Montain Ash
///Give.gained.exit
2623
Sorbus aucuparia, 2022, H (wales) + G, 1990, Unknown
Sorbus aucuparia is a small to medium-sized tree, typically around 15 metres tall and exceptionally up to 25 metres. It has an open spire shape and smooth, silvery grey bark. The leaves are pinnate, comprising 11 to 19 sharply toothed leaflets, somewhat rectangular, each leaflet about 5cm long and serrated nearly to its base. They are dark green above and grey-green and downy beneath.
Common Ash
///Deeper.haven.values
2623
Fraxinus excelsior ‘Geessink’, 2023, H+ G, 1988, M.Frazer
Fraxinus excelsior ‘Geessink’ is a fairly tall tree with a good, slightly bending, upright going trunk. Height 15 – 20 m. At first the crown is narrow pyramidal, later wide ovoid to almost round. The compound, odd-pinnate leaf has 9 – 11 leaflets, is mat dark green and light green underneath.
