able for carving and similar purposes. The inner bark yields strong and 
pliable fibers useful as twine. The flowers are sweet and attractive to 
bees—basswood honey is prized. And the flowers are used to make a 
pleasant tea, as well as to produce linden oil, which is an ingredient in 
perfumes. The fruits can be processed into a tasty chocolate substitute, 
and the leaves have been used to adulterate tobacco. 
Probably the most important modern use of basswoods is for land- 
scaping. The white basswood and American basswood grow into large, 
shade-tolerant specimen trees, often with gracefully arching branches. 
Smaller, with a distinctive pyramid shape, the European littleleaf (or 
heart-leaved) linden (Tilia cordata) is a favorite street tree. A hybrid 
derived in part from it, Tilia Xeuropaea, is the linden of the famous Berlin 
boulevard Unter den Linden. The lindens flanking the entranceway to the 
Garden include two selections: a cultivar of murky parentage, Tilia 
‘Redmond’, and the hybrid Crimean linden Tilia Xeuchlora. 
The name “basswood” comes from “bast-wood”, the bast being the 
useful inner bark. Tilia is the ancient Latin name for lindens, and hetero- 
phylla means “ diverse-leaved”. 
YELLOWWOOD 
See Map: AA, M 
Cladrastis kentuckea (formerly known as Cladrastis lutea) 
The old yellowwood along the east wall of 
the Garden just south of the Flora Gate 
(Spink Pavilion) dates back to the early 
days of the Garden. This grand tree, now 
propped up on crutches, may not grace the 
Garden much longer. Until recently, it was 
the Missouri State Champion of its species; 
however, a slightly larger rival (depending 
on how you measure it) has turned up ata 
church in Independence, Missouri. 
Yellowwoods prefer rich soil on lime- 
stone ridges and cliffs and along stream 
banks from North Carolina to Missouri. In 
Missouri it is rare and restricted to the 
southern edge of the state. Yellowwood is similar in flower and other 
aspects to the Japanese pagodatree (also a legume and included in the 
guidebook on page 20) and was thus classified as a Sophora when discov- 
ered in 1811. Like sophoras, yellowwoods burst into bloom in alternate 
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