Tilia oliveri is a graceful ‘silver Lime’ which is also known as the ‘Chinese White Lime’. It has an elegant dome shape form with a dark green surface to the leaf with a silver-white underside which is extremely pretty when the leaves dance in a breeze. The leaf has a very pleasing rounded shape with a finely toothed edge – its shoots are pendant and glabrous.

In mid-summer (late June and July) the tree produces quantities of sweetly-scented white flowers which are attractive to insects, though these are aphid-free and do not cause ‘honeydew’.

The trunk is an attractive silver-grey colour that is smooth to the touch. The tree was discovered by Augustine Henry in 1888, 14 years after Hillier Nurseries began, in Central China, and was introduced to the UK 12 years later by Ernest Wilson.