Basswood are flowering

[sprucebunny]

These trees aren't very common around here and they seem very different; almost tropical to me. The map on the included link shows that they grow in a wide range of climates.
Do you have a picture of an element of the life cycle of this tree that you could add ?

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TIAM&photoID=tiam_009_avp.jpg

 



It has an interesting smell, very faint.

[Dodgy Loner]

Those are some pretty prolific blooms.  The ones around here don't make nearly as many.

[SwampDonkey]

Mine are not opened up yet like sprucebunny's. But the blooms are abundant/prolific on my trees. Not as heavy set as in sprucebunny's though. I also discovered the one basswood I have on my woodlot is flowering for the first time this year.

Are those the native American basswood or European in your picture? My wild ones I transplanted to the yard have a strong smell, much like orange blossoms. You need to be close to them to get a strong whiff. They are not real common up here, but not rare either.

Mmmm the smell of basswood blooms. 

I think Corley5 has a lot in his woods and Gary_C has cut a lot of them as well.

However, it does not grow as far north as indicated on your map. The USDA has a more specific map of it's range somewhere on their site.

[SwampDonkey]

Today on my yard tree.

[SwampDonkey]

closeup of bloom

[SwampDonkey]

Here is one further along from last year.

[SwampDonkey]

Basswood fruit. They have a nut-like seed.

[SwampDonkey]

Seed take 2 or more years to germinate and cotyledons are palmate (5 -lobed). Growth is rapid, rooting is deep and wide spreading and very wind firm. Leaves were found to have highest contest of calcium and magnesium of 24 tree species studied and leaves yield a significant amount of N-P-K, considered a good soil improver.

[Dodgy Loner]

Great pictures, SD.

[Don P]

The only part of the life cycle I have handy at the moment is later and squarer, and planed 

Basswood was an early bast (fiber) source for thread and rope and woven goods from the stringy inner bark, that's where the name comes from.

Checking on an old friend the other day I found out that Carl Linnaeus's last name comes from linne' ... linden, the basswood. He was the fellow that created the scientific latin binomial naming system we still use today.