American basswood for the bees!

Leaf 04May2012

The bees will feast on the blossoms of the American linden at the end of the road! The leaves (see photo) have emerged. Hopefully the tree will be flowering within the next four weeks!

The American linden is found in Canada from New Brunswick to Manitoba, southward to Georgia and Texas, and is common throughout Ohio. Rich, moist bottom lands and hillsides are its favorite haunts. It reaches a height of 70—80 feet and sprouts freely. The suckers can serve as an identification feature in the woods. It is a handsome shade tree, transplants easily, grows rapidly, and produces useful wood

The leaves are simple, alternate, roundish and 31/4—51/4 inches (8—13 cm) long. Foliage is firm in texture, toothed along the margin, and unequally heart-shaped at the base. Leaves are glabrous or have tufts of rusty hair in axils of veins. Leaves lack the thick tomentum beneath the leaf that characterizes the white linden.
The bark on young stems is smooth and dark gray. On older trunks it becomes thick and clearly furrowed. The twigs are glabrous, shiny, rather stout, often zigzagged, and green to red in color. The buds are egg-shaped, two-ranked, stout, blunt-pointed, and usually deep red with three visible bud scales. Terminal buds are absent.

Blossoms from 2010 - none in 2011

Flowers are perfect, fragrant, and borne in cymes of five to 20. Flowers are yellow and bloom in July. Honeybees are attracted in numbers and may be a concern for some. The axillary peduncle of flowers and fruit are united to a strap-shaped, short-stalked, leaflike bract that allows the seed to be carried by the wind in a helicopter-like fashion. The winged fruit is unique to lindens. The fruits themselves are nutlike berries about the size of a pea and often persist on the tree far into winter.

Tree At the end of our road

This is a valuable timber tree. The wood is soft and easily worked. The light-colored wood takes stain well. Lindens are a good source of nectar for honeybees. The honey is especially prized. American linden is valuable as a wildlife tree with hollows in mature trees serving as homes to a variety of wildlife.

Information from Ohio State University

Wikipedia-Tilia americana
USDA.gov - Tilia americana L.