Family: Malvaceae
Duration: Perennial
Height: 18-40m (60-130ft)
Blooming: June - July
American Linden
Tilia americana L.
Stem: thick and deeply furrowed.
Flowers: formed in hanging clusters. These clusters are attached to a long, paddle-like greenish-yellow bract. The flowers are small with five petals and sepals.
Leaves: alternately arranged on the stem. The underside of the leaves sometimes has tufts of hair present. Leaves are relatively large with usual size of 7-15 cm long and 7-12 cm wide. They are heart shaped and asymmetrical at the base with a pointed tip. The leaves are toothed.
Sun: Full sun to shade
SOURCES & FURTHER RESOURCES:
Illinois Wildflowers - American Basswood
Midwest Herbaria - Tilia americana
Comments: American linden, also called American basswood, is common throughout landscapes and natural areas in Northwest Indiana. Once cracked open, the seeds have been reported to be made into a chocolate substitute paste.
Pultzer Prize winning American poet, Theodore Roethke wrote in his poem "The Far Field",
All finite things reveal infinitude:
The mountain with its singular bright shade
Like the blue shine on freshly frozen snow,
The after-light upon ice-burdened pines;
Odor of basswood on a mountain-slope,
A scent beloved of bees;
Silence of water above a sunken tree :
The pure serene of memory in one man, --
A ripple widening from a single stone
Winding around the waters of the world.
Butterfly/Moth host plant: the larvae use American linden as a host: Yellow-Banded Underwing (Catocala cerogama)
photos by Nathanael Pilla
Etymology: Tilia is possibly from the Greek word for elm, ptelea, and is the Latin name for, Linden. Americana simply means "from America".
