550 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



LINDEN 



Basswood, Lime Whitewood, Beetree. 

 Tilia amcricana L. 



HABIT A large tree 50-75 ft., to 100 ft. in height in the upper 

 valley of the Connecticut river, with a trunk diameter of 2-4 ft.; with 

 a straight trunk generally continuous into the top, beset with numerous 

 slender branches, those at the base often strongly drooping, forming a 

 narrow pyramidal head as shown in habit picture or more commonly 

 becoming broadly ovate or round-topped and oblong. [Habit picture 

 is taken from the European Linden, which resembles the American spe- 

 cies in habit.] 



BARK Dark gray, firm but easily cut, in young stems smooth 

 (upper part of smaller trunk in photograph), becoming fissured into long 

 rather narrow flat-topped ridges, divided by characteristically trans- 

 verse cracks into short blocks (lower bark picture), becoming with age 

 deeply furrowed with broader more rounded ridges (older trunk). 



TWIGS Rather slender, smooth, shining, bright red or greenish 

 or covered with a gray skin; generally zizag, somewhat mucilaginous; 

 fibres in inner bark long, tough, appearing as blunt conical masses in 

 cross-section of older twig, and in surface sections of the bark as 

 whitish wavy lines enclosing lens-shaped darker masses which show 

 externally as wrinkled depressions of the bark. LENTICELS 

 scattered, dark, oblong. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, 2-ranked; large, elevated, semi-oval to 

 elliptical. STIPULE-SCARS narrow, often showing bundle-scars. 

 BUNDLE-SCARS few to many, scattered or in a ring or forming a 

 single curved line, showing as 3 in deep surface section. 



BUDS Terminal bud absent; lateral buds large to medium, ovate, 3-10 

 mm. long, somewhat flattened, often lopsided, divergent, dark red or 

 sometimes green, smooth or slightly downy at apex. BUD-SCALES 

 rarely more than 2-3 visible, thick, rounded at the back, not 2-ranked 

 nor in pairs. 



FRUIT About the size of a pea, woody, spherical, singly or in clus- 

 ters of several with a common stalk attached midway to a leafy bract, 

 sometimes remaining on the tree into the winter. 



COMPARISONS The American Linden, more commonly known among 

 lumbermen as Basswood differs but slightly in winter or summer condi- 

 tion from the European species [Tilia vulgaris Hayne] which is much 

 cultivated as a street tree. Another Basswood [Tilia Michauxii Nutt.J 

 has been reported in New England only from Connecticut, but 

 is rare in this state. The Lindens are sometimes confused with the 

 Elms but aside from the different habit of growth the Linden has 

 larger, bright colored buds with 2-3 scales only showing, while the Elms 

 have many scales visible and their bundle-scars are depressed. 



DISTRIBUTION In rich woods and loamy soils and often cultivated. 

 Southern Canada from New Brunswick to Lake Winnipeg; south 

 along the mountains to Georgia; west to Kansas, Nebraska and ..exas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Throughout, frequent from the sea coast to 

 altitudes of 1,000 ft., rare from 1,000 to 2,000 ft. 

 IN CONNECTICUT Occasional. 



WOOD Soft, straight-grained, light brown faintly tinged with red. 

 with thick hardly distinguishable sapwood of 55-65 layers of annual 

 growth, employed in the manufacture of paper-pulp; under the .name 

 of Whitewood largely used for woodenware, cheap furniture, 1 

 panels of carriages, and for inner soles of shoes. The tough inner bark 

 furnishes fibres for mats, cordage, etc. 



