Linden Facts
Linden Facts
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| Interesting Linden Facts: |
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| Linden can grow from 66 to 130 feet in height. It develops dense, pyramidal or round-shaped crown. |
| Young linden trees have nearly smooth grey bark. Old trees have brown, furrowed bark. |
| Linden produces broad, heart-shaped, asymmetrical leaves with pointed tips and serrated edges. Leaves are green and hairy during the spring. They change color into yellow during the autumn. |
| Linden produces flowers during the late spring. Flowers are yellow, fragrant and organized in drooping clusters. Even though flowers contain both types of reproductive organs (stigma and stamens), they are not able to perform self-pollination. Strong fragrance of the flowers attracts bees, main pollinators of linden. |
| After successful pollination, flowers transform into pea-like nutlets (type of fruit) filled with numerous seed. Fruit hangs on the greenish bract (modified leaf) that facilitates wind-induced dispersal of seed. Linden produces fruit during the summer. |
| Linden can be propagated via seed, cutting and grafting. |
| Bees use nectar from linden flowers to produce delicious honey. Flowers are rich source of volatile oils that are responsible for the pleasant aroma of this plant. Aromatic flowers are popular and often consumed in the form of teas and herbal tinctures. |
| Species of linden that produce double flowers have application in the industry of perfumes. |
| Lindens are rarely planted near the parking lots in America. Flowers produce sticky nectar which induces damage of automotive paints on the cars parked below the tree. |
| Linden has soft and elastic wood. These qualities make linden ideal for carving. Wood is also used in the industry of musical instruments for the manufacture of guitars and violas. |
| Wood of linden is often used for the production of window blinds and shutters. |
| Vikings used wood of linden for the manufacture of shields. |
| Inner bark of linden was used in the production of ropes and mats in the past. |
| Almost all parts of linden can be used in medical purposes. Flowers are used in treatment of common cold, fever, inflammation, headache and respiratory tract disorders. Leaves are used in treatment of fever. Wood is used in treatment of liver and gallbladder disorders. Charcoal (made of burned wood) is used in treatment of ulcers, edema and infections. |
| Linden usually lives few hundred years, but they can survive over thousand years in the wild. |
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