LINDEN 



for wood-carving. The inimitable carvings of fruit, flowers, 

 and game by Grinling Gibbons, the famous English carver, 

 were made entirely of linden ; no other wood could be relied 

 upon to be so even of texture and so free from knots.' 



The leaves of all the lindens are one-sided, always heart- 

 shaped, and the tiny fruit, looking like peas, always hangs at- 

 tached to a curious, ribbon-like, 

 greenish yellow bract, whose use 

 seems to be to launch the ripened 

 seed-clusters just a little beyond 

 the parent tree. The flowers of 

 the European and American lin- 

 dens are similar, except that the 

 American bears a petal-like scale 

 among its stamens and the Euro- 

 pean varieties are destitute of 

 these appendages. 



The possible age of the Linden 

 in America has not yet been de- 

 termined. In Europe it is known 

 to have reached the age of centu- 

 ries. In the court-yard of the Im- 

 perial Castle at Nuremberg is a 

 Linden which tradition says was 

 planted by the Empress Cuni- 

 gunde, the wife of Henry II. of 

 Germany. This would make the 

 tree nearly nine hundred years 

 old. It looks ancient and infirm, 

 but sends forth thrifty leaves on 

 its two or three remaining branches and is of course cared 

 for tenderly. The famous Linden of Neustadt on the Kocher 

 in Wiirtemberg was computed to be one thousand years old 

 when it fell. 



The Linden is loved of the bees. No matter how isolated 

 the tree the bees are sure to find the fragrant nectar-laden 

 blossoms. The excellence of the honey of far-famed Hybla 



27 



Fruit of the Linden, Tilt'a americana. 



