DOWNY BASSWOOD; LINDEN (Tilia pubescens, Ait.). 30 to 40 feet. Small tree with slender branches and rusty-pubescent twigs. Bark scaly on ridges between parallel fissures. Red dish brown. Wood light brown, close-grained, soft. Leaves ovate, acuminate, unsymmetrical at base, 4 to 5 inches long, hoary tomentose when they unfold, becoming at maturity dark, smooth or pubescent above, rusty-downy beneath, 2 to 3 inches wide, on short stalks. Flowers in May, creamy, hairy, fragrant, clustered on winged stems. Fruit globular, or oblong nuts to a inch in diameter, rusty-hairy. Dist.:
North Carolina to Florida, near coast, and around the Gulf to Texas; then north into Arkansas. Not a common forest bee.
European lindens are successfully grown in parks in this country, the native species being but sparingly cultivated. Three fine species have silvery, silky leaf linings. The com mon linden of the Old World has dainty leaves, and is a hand somer tree here than our broad-leaved T. Americana. The bloom of the immigrant species is more abundant than that of the native kinds.