416 TREES IN WINTER 



LINDEN 

 Basswood, Lime, Whitewood, Beetree. 



Tilia americana 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 

 species ik 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). 



TAVIGS — Rather slender, smooth, shining, bright red or greenish 

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

 when chewed; 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 ellip- 

 tical. STIPULE-SCARS — generally 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; mucilaginous 

 when chewed. 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 knov/n among 

 lumbermen as Basswood, differs but slightly in winter or summer 

 condition from the European species \_Tilia vulgaris Hayne] which is 

 much cultivated as a street tree. Another Basswood [Tilia Michauxii 

 Nutt.] 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 manv scales visible and their bundle-scars are depressed. From 

 the Chestnut, the Linden is best distinguished by its twigs and buds 

 which are mucilaginous when chewed. 



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 Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Throughout, frequent from the sea coast to 

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



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, the panels 

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

 furnishes fibres for mats, cordage, etc. 



