684 The Basswoods 



erect; stigma 5-lobed; ovules 2 in each cavity. Fruit a globose nut-like drupe, 

 with a hard coat, usually i-celled; seeds i or 2 in each fruit, obovoid, the endosperm 

 fleshy; embryo large, often curved ; cotyledons broad, 5-lobed. 



The inner bark or bast is tough, and is made into cordage, mattings, fish-nets, 

 and shoes in northern Europe. The flowers are mucilaginous and are used in 

 domestic medicine; the fragrant volatile oil obtained from the flowers is used in 

 perfumery, and a highly prized honey is gathered by the bees which visit these 

 trees when in blossom. 



Several fossil species have been described from the Tertiary formations of 

 Europe and America. 



The generic name, adopted by Linnaeus, was the classic name of the Linden, 

 Tilia eurofaa Linnaeus, the type of the genus. Our species are: 



Leaves smooth beneath or very nearly so, sometimes glaucous. 

 Leaves green beneath, their teeth slender-tipjjed. i. T. americana. 



Leaves white-glaucous beneath, their teeth not slender-tipped; southern 

 trees. 

 Cyme-branches smooth; staminodes entire. 2. T. australis. 



Cyme-branches hairy; staminodes erose. 3. T. floridana. 



Leaves mostly densely hairy beneath, not glaucous. 

 ■ Leaves white, gray or silvery beneath. 



Bracts mostly abruptly narrowed at the base, sessile or nearly so. 

 Leaves gray or silvery gray beneath, the hairs very short. 4. T. heterophyUa. 



Leaves white beneath, the hairs rather long, cottony. 5. T. eburnea. 



Bracts mostly attenuate at the base, stalked. 6. T. Michauxii. 



Leaves brown-hairy or rusty hairy beneath. 

 Leaves thick, firm, copiously hairy beneath. 7. T. pubescens. 



Leaves very thin, sparsely hairy beneath. 8. T. leptophyUa. 



I. AMERICAN LINDEN — Tilia americana Linnaeus 



A stately tree, known also as Basswood, White-wood, and Whistle-wood, occurs 

 in woods from New Brunswick to Manitoba, southward to Georgia and eastern 

 Texas, reaching its greatest abundance about Lakes Erie and Ontario, where it 

 sometimes forms exclusive forests. Its maximum height is about 40 meters, with 

 a trunk diameter up to 1.5 meters. The branches incline to spread, and develop 

 into an ample rounded head where the tree grows in the open. 



The dark gray bark, 2 to 2.5 cm. thick, is longitudinally furrowed into flat 

 ridges. The season's twigs are round, smooth, greenish to light gray or reddish, 

 becoming darker the following year. The winter buds are often i cm. long, ovoid, 

 pointed and red. The leaves are firm in texture, ovate to orbicular, 10 to 18 cm. 

 long, and about two thirds as wide as long, unequally cordate to truncate at the 

 base, long-pointed, deeply toothed, with sharp gland-tipped teeth; the upper 

 surface is dark green and shining, the under side green and smooth, except for a 

 few rusty hairs in the axils of the stronger veins; the leaf -stalk is slender, about 

 one third as long as the blade. The bracts of the peduncles are decurrent upon 



