Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Never really looked at a lime tree bract before

This bract dropped on my head in the garden and I took a second look. I’d never really stopped to notice lime tree flowers or bracts before.

The following photo gleaned from the internet, shows a rather fresher flower.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Walsh on June 26, 2022 at 0:19

Grreat fotos Hugh. Limes flowers exude a sugar based nectar upto litres per day. if you park your car under one for a week you'll see what i mean.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on June 26, 2022 at 1:13

I don’t think it’s the nectar that causes the stickiness. This from woodlands.co.uk:

Limes often attract aphids (greenfly & blackfly) in considerable numbers. They use their piercing mouthparts (stylets) to feed on the sugars in the leaves.The sugary sap is extracted from the phloem tissue. The aphids exude a sticky honeydew (a sugar and amino acid rich liquid).