Lime buds

This small-leaved lime stands on the common between here and the village.  It is currently in bud, the flowers will open in the next week or so.  So in spite of the season's early progress being delayed by cold weather, this lime at least has caught up.

The pale elongated leaf-like growths are bracts, to which the flowers are attached.  When the tree has flowered, been pollinated, and the seeds have ripened, the bracts will fall from the tree with the seeds attached and will descend to the ground in much the same way as sycamore 'helicopters'.