Leaf: Alternate, simple; blade ovate or rounded, pointed at the tip, heart-shaped at the very asymmetrical base; up to 8 inches long, up to 2/3 as broad; coarsely toothed along the edges, palmately veined; shiny green and smooth on upper surface, paler and smooth or with tufts of hair in vein angles on the lower surface; leafstalks up to 2 inches long, smooth; turning pale yellow or brown in autumn.
Flower: Few in clusters on a long stalk attached to a paddle-shaped structure, each flower fragrant, greenish-yellow, with 5 petals, appearing in June and July.
Fruit: Hard, nutlike, spherical or elliptical, but often with a short point at the tip; up to 1/3 inch in diameter, light brown or gray, finely hairy; maturing in late summer and autumn, often persisting into winter.
Twig: Slender, gray or brown, smooth; leaf scars alternate, half-elliptical, with 3 to several bundle traces.
Bark: Dark brown and shallowly grooved to deeply furrowed when mature, but often smooth grayish on the upper part.
Form: Medium
or large tree to 80 feet tall; long trunk with diameter up to 2 feet; dense, broadly
rounded crown of many small, often drooping branches; frequently has 2 or more
trunks, and sprouts in a circle from a stump.
Discussion
American basswood is a high value species; its excellent, soft,
easily worked wood is prized by woodworkers, especially for turned items.
The wood is used for making food boxes, yardsticks, furniture and
pulpwood. Supply of quality basswood is now limited.
Traditionally, basswood was the premier wood for prosthetic limbs; this use has been entirely
replaced by synthetic materials. Native Americans and white settlers used the
inner bark of basswood for basket weaving and rope making. Tilia sap contains moderate amounts of
sugar, and can be used fresh as a watery drink, or can be boiled into syrup.
Native Americans used sap for both these purposes, though there are better trees
for syrup. Native Americans also ate young basswood leaves, and used the cambium
for soups and breads. Medicinal use by Native Americans include: leaf extracts
for eye wash and poultices; bark extracts for dysentery, poultices, discomforts of
pregnancy; and bark from lightning-struck trees for snake bites.
Tilia are wonderful ornamentals. The native T. americana is a beautiful shade tree for large sites, where soil compaction is not a problem. For smaller sites, or for sites with compacted soils, other Tilia are more suitable. When flowering, the trees are full of bees, being favored by bees over other trees and producing a strongly flavored honey.
Distinguishing Characteristics
The large, heart-shaped leaves sometimes resemble the leaves of the red mulberry, but the leafstalks of the basswood do not have milky sap in them. The basswood differs from the white basswood by the virtual absence of hairs on the lower leaf surface.
Distribution
New Brunswick across to Manitoba, south to Texas, east to North Carolina.
Images
Click each small picture to see a larger image.
Location
N 39.27902º W
-89.89217º
East side of Carlinville Middle School, 829 W. Main, Carlinville, Macoupin County, IL.
Copyright
Photos © 2002 Kara Burrow and Jackie Wichman, Carlinville High School, linke@carlinvilleschools.net
References
William C. Grimm, Familiar Trees of America, 1967, Harper and Row.
George A. Petrides, Eastern Trees, 1988, Houghton Mifflin Company.
Robert H. Mohlenbrock, Forest Trees of Illinois, 1996, Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Athenic Systems (formerly TreeGuide, Inc.)
http://www.treeguide.com/species.asp?speciesID=1083
Virginia Tech
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/tamericana.htm
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