Tiliaceae

However, in the northern temperate regions the name is unambiguous as the only representative is Tilia, the lime or linden.

The APG II system, does not recognise this as a family but submerges it in the Malvaceae sensu lato, which unites the four families Bombacaceae, Malvaceae sensu stricto, Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae.

Modern botanical taxonomy, such as the relevant volume in the Kubitzki series which conforms to APG, treats most of the plants that traditionally constitute the family (see above) in the subfamilies Tilioideae, Brownlowioideae, and Grewioideae within this extended family Malvaceae sensu lato.

In the Cronquist system (1981) the family includes some fifty genera, totalling around seven hundred species of trees and shrubs, rarely herbs, with a subcosmopolitan distribution.

It may be separated from Malvaceae sensu stricto by the smooth surface of the pollen grains, bilocular anthers, and the stamens free or in bundles (but not monadelphous)