Tilia americana

COMMON NAME: American Linden, Basswood

FAMILY: Tiliaceae (Basswood Family)

GROWTH HABIT: Medium-tall, stately tree (60 - 80 ft in height) with numerous, slender, low hung spreading branches; pyramidal in youth; at maturity the lower drooping down then up, forming a dep, ovate, oblong, or smewhat rounded crown.

FOLIAGE: Alternate, simple, broad-ovate, 4 - 8 in long, almost as wide, abruptly acuminate. Dark green and glabrous above, light green beneath, with tufts of hair in the axils of the lateral veins. Petiole 1 - 3 in long.

BUDS: Terminal-absent, laterals - 1/8 to 2/5 in long, somewhat flattened, often lopsided, divergent, brown, reddish brown or greenish, smooth or slightly downy at apex, bud shaped like a teardrop, about 2-scaled.

BARK: Gray to brown, broken into many long, narrow, flat-topped, scaly ridges, very tough and fibrous.

FLOWERS: Perfect, pale yellow, 3/5 in wide, fragrant, borne in 5 - 10 flowered, 2-3 in wide pendulous cymes in mid to late june.

FRUIT: Nutlike structure, 1/3 to 1/2 in long, grayish tomentose, thick-shelled, without ribs.

NATIVE HABITAT: Although best growth is made on moist, deep soils, basswood is found on many other sites.