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Basswood

Tilia americana

Seneca Name

O:osä’

Common Name

"American Linden," "Bee-Tree"

Location

Earth is Our Mother Trail

GPS Coordinates

N 42°58.914' W077°25.229'

The basswood is a large tree (60-100') with a long trunk and a dense crown of small drooping branches. The leaves are large (3-6" long, 3-6" wide) and broadly ovate with a coarse saw-toothed edge and palmate veining. Basswood's heart-shaped leaves are distinctive in their lopsided, not completely symmetrical nature and turn pale yellow or brown in the Fall. The bark is dark gray and smooth. It is the basswood's fragrant flowers that give it its common name of "bee-tree." When in flower, these trees are favored by bees over many other species of plants and the trees "hum" with bees. The honey that the bee makes from this tree is strong-flavored and a much sought after honey. Its soft, light wood has been used as lumber and its fibrous inner bark was used to make cordage.

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