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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 115: BASSWOOD
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

BASSWOOD

Tilia americana, L.

Form.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 2½-4 feet; trunk straight and free from limbs to a considerable height; crown dense, ovoid or round-topped.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, 5-6 inches long, obliquely heart-shaped, coarsely serrate, thick and firm, dark-green and shining above, pale green and almost glabrous beneath.

Flowers.—June; perfect; yellowish-white, fragrant, 5-20, in drooping cymes, the peduncle or flower stalk attached for half its length to a flat narrow greenish bract.

Fruit.—October; a woody, globose, nut-like drupe, about the size of a pea and borne in drooping clusters.

Bark.—On old trunks deeply furrowed and with broad, scaly, light brown ridges.

Wood.—Light, soft, close-grained, tough, light brownish-red, with thick scarcely lighter sapwood.

Range.—Manitoba to Georgia, and Texas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Common, especially in the mountainous and high hilly parts of the State, though occurring less frequently than the following species.

Habitat.—Rich, well-drained soil of bottoms and slopes.

Notes.—The wood of this species is used for paper pulp, wooden ware, furniture, kegs, buckets, barrel heads, boxes, etc. It is one of our valuable forest trees and should be encouraged to grow wherever it is possible. Linden, Lynn, Beetree, and Lime Tree are others of its common names. Its smooth leaves furnish the best distinguishing characteristic.