Click on the images help you identify an American basswood.
Form
Height is 60 to 80 feet, with a trunk diameter of 12 to 36 inches. More than one trunk is common, especially in forests. The trunk often continues straight into the top of a dense, rounded crown.
Bark
Younger bark is light gray and smooth. Older bark is darker gray, with shallow vertical ridges.
Leaf
Leaves are simple and alternate on the stem. They are 3 to 6 inches long and nearly as wide, heart-shaped, saw-toothed, and sharp-pointed at the tip. At maturity, leaves are thick and shiny, green above and paler underneath. Leaf color turns yellow to orange in autumn.
Fruit (seed)
Flowers bloom in midsummer and are pollinated by insects, including bees. Fruits are rounded, nut-like drupes covered with short, thick, brownish wool and attached in clusters to a leafy bract that later acts as a wing to carry seeds on the wind. Fruit often hangs on the tree long into winter. Propagation from seed is difficult.
Range
Common throughout the state except in the extreme northeastern part. Grows chiefly on rich, water-deposited soil and is shade-tolerant.
Wood uses
The wood is light, soft, and tough, but not durable. It is light brown, with scarcely distinguishable sapwood. It is used for carving, paper, woodenware, furniture, trunks, crating, drawing boards, kegs, barrel heads, and lumber. The flexible fiber can be used to make rope, snowshoes, baskets, mats, and nets. Single-trunked basswood (linden) trees are recommended for ornamental and boulevard plantings. Learn more with our basswood in your yard video.