{"id":19256,"date":"2022-04-29T10:28:56","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T14:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=19256"},"modified":"2025-08-01T10:45:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T14:45:39","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-basswood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-basswood\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Basswood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Basswood<\/a>The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the\u00a0publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees.<\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a>\u00a0exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the basswood or\u00a0Tilia Americana<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0American basswood<\/a>, which is also called linden, is commonly identified by its simple heart-shaped leaves with finely toothed margins, flat bark with long running lines up and down the trees, and possibly a ring of sprouts originating from the base of the tree. The clusters of small, nutlike seeds (\u2153-inch in diameter)
\nare attached by a stem to a leaflike wing. \"Basswood<\/a><\/p>\n

This species is often found on moist sites, deep, loamy soils, with its range stretching from the Great Plains east and from southern Canada through northern Arkansas, Kentucky and the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.<\/p>\n

With heights reaching 70 to 80 feet tall, basswood can offer good shade. It also offers good flowering for bees. This species has a light colored, fine-grained wood varying from a white color to a very light brown or flesh color.<\/p>\n

Due to its weight and stability, basswood has historically been used to make Venetian blinds and key stock in pianos. It also is a preferred species for carving, including items like hunting decoys, etc.<\/p>\n