AMERICAN LINDEN, AND "DESTINY CALLS"

AMERICAN LINDEN, 6TH ST. AND RITTENHHOUSE AVE.

...LINDEN LEAF, UPPER SIDE...

LINDEN LEAF, UNDERSIDE, AND PAIRED, WINGED NUTLETS

Tuesday,  9:00 AM.  Wind SSE, light with occasional stronger gusts.  The sky is clear, the humidity is lower at 85% and the barometer is trending up, at 30.30".  We are in for some nice fall weather.

   The City of Bayfield tries to maximize diversity in its street tree population, and both American and little leaf (European) lindens have been planted to help achieve that goal.  The American linden, AKA basswood, pictured is on the corner of Rittenhouse Ave. and 6th Street.  It was unfortunately planted where its lower limbs will always need to be pruned to keep them from obscuring a stop sign, but it is a healthy and valuable tree and we will live with it.  American linden, Tilia americana,  in the family Tilliaceae, is native to the climax deciduous forest of the eastern US and Midwest.   It grows in association with sugar maple, red oak, yellow birch and other climax, shade-tolerant trees.  It is moderately fast growing, has few serious pests or diseases and becomes a large tree at maturity.  It makes a good street tree although its mature size may dictate where it can be used.  Its hard, nut-like winged fruits may be considered messy but are not a real problem.  It bears small yellow flowers in the spring which are quite attractive if one looks for them, and are extremely fragrant.  Basswood honey is very sweet and flavorful.  American linden leaves are simple, toothed, and hearth-shaped at the base.  The terminal winter bud is rather unique in that it is not truly terminal, but offset somewhat to the side, a good winter identification characteristic.  The trunk of a young tree is brown and smooth, and has lenticels, somewhat like a cherry tree.  At maturity the trunk is rough and grayish in color.

   Other linden species are also valuable as street and ornamental trees, especially the European, or little leaf linden, Tilia cordata, which the City of Bayfield also has in its street tree inventory.  Maintaining a diverse street tree population is the best long-term defense against insect and disease problems, and relying on only a few species and varieties  makes the entire population of street and park trees unnecessarily vulnerable.
  I've been thinking about Vladimir Putin, who is evidently now writing an  Op-Ed column for the New York Times. He seems to be a persuasive politician and quite a strategic thinker.  Perhaps he should move to the US to continue his career, or the Times should move to Russia to compete with Pravda.  In either case, Destiny calls.