70 TREES 



leaves, which are usually marred by the wind soon after 

 they reach mature size. Propagation is easy from cut- 

 ,tings and from seed. 



The American Linden, or Basswood 



Tilia Americana^ Linn. 



The American linden or basswood is a stately spreading 

 tree reaching one hundred and twenty feet in height and a 

 trunk diameter of four feet. The bark is brown, furrowed, 

 and scaly, the branches gray and smooth, the twigs ruddy. 

 The alternate leaves are obliquely heart-shaped, saw- 

 toothed, with prominent veins that branch at the base, 

 only on the side next to the petiole. (See illustration, 

 page 86.) Occasionally the leaf blades are eight inches 

 long. A dense shade is cast by a linden tree in midsum- 

 mer. 



The blossoms, cream-white and clustered on pale green> 

 leaf-like blades, open by hundreds in June and July, 

 actually dripping with nectar, and illuminating the plat- 

 forms of green leaves. A bird flying overhead looks down 

 upon a tree covered with broad leaf blades overlapping 

 like shingles on a roof. It must look underneath to see the 

 flowers that delight us as we look up into the tree-top from 

 our station on the ground. 



In midsummer the linden foliage becomes coarse and 

 wind- whipped; the soft leaf -substance is attacked by 

 insects that feed upon it; plant lice deface them with 

 patches of honey-dew, and the sticky surfaces catch dust 

 and soot. Riddled and torn, they drop in desultory 

 fashion, their faded yellow not at all lik€ the satisfying 

 gold of beech and hickory leaves. 



