An Amherst reader named Lila Rountree recently alerted me to the upcoming June blossoming of linden trees, an annual event I knew nothing about. Rountree and her late husband, Ben, a French professor at the University of Massachusetts, spent a lot of their time through the years in France and came to greatly admire the linden, a sturdy deciduous tree known in England as the lime tree and in America as basswood.
According to Rountree, everyone in France is familiar with the tree and its small white blossoms that perfume the air in early summer. “When it blooms, people collect the flowers and dry them and make a delicious tea known for its calming effects.” she said. “I don’t understand why people in this country don’t know about it. It’s such a shame that all those flowers go to waste every year.”
Rountree told me that she first fell in love with linden trees when she and Ben lived in a house in France that had a linden tree across the street. She said she was so fond of the tree that she decided they must plant one when they returned to Amherst. “The year we moved back to Amherst I happened to open the window and smell a linden tree outside. I hadn’t realized it, but we had two linden trees in our yard.”
She explained that their house on South Whitney Street was built in 1870 and she believed the trees were planted soon after the house was built.
Inspired by Rountree’s enthusiasm, I did some research on the linden tree. It has smooth bark and an oval to pyramid-like canopy with heart-shaped leaves. It can grow to be 60 to 120 feet tall, depending on the variety. Its dense foliage provides excellent shade. There are several varieties, including Tilia cordata (commonly known as little-leaf linden), which is frequently grown in urban areas because it tolerates less than ideal conditions such as heavy clay and alkaline soil.
Lindens tend to be long-lived, so it’s likely Rountree’s lindens are contemporaneous with her house. A 2,000-year-old linden stands in Gloucestershire, England. In the courtyard of the Imperial Castle at Nuremburg is a linden said to have been planted by the Empress Cunigunde, wife of Henry II of Germany, around the year 1,000.
Linden trees have many cultural and literary associations. The most famous boulevard in Berlin is Unter den Linden. It is said that lovers make love under the linden tree because of its heady perfume. And it was linden-flower tea into which the French writer Marcel Proust dipped his famous Madeleine cookie, producing a scent that unlocked a lifetime of memories recounted in “In Search of Lost Time (A la Recherche du Temps Perdu).”
The linden’s fragrant flowers are an important source of food for pollinators. They are used to produce a monofloral honey known for its delicate spiciness (and priciness, too.) The famed honey of the Hyblaean Mountains in southeastern Sicily is produced from the linden trees that cover the slopes. Some butterfly and moth larvae feed on linden leaves and buds.
The linden tree has long been used in herbal medicine. A tea steeped from the flowers treats coughs, colds, fevers, infections and headaches, particularly migraines. It is also used as a diuretic, and recent evidence suggests that it is beneficial to the liver. Charcoal from the burned wood is ingested to relieve intestinal upsets; it is applied topically to treat infections such as cellulitis.
The wood of the linden tree is soft and easily worked, making it ideal for carving. It was frequently used for the intricately carved altar pieces of European churches and cathedrals. Grinling Gibbons, the legendary 17th-century British wood carver, known for his work in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and Windsor Castle, preferred linden to all other woods. Because of its strength and lightness, linden is also commonly used for the bodies of electric guitars and basses, as well as woodwind instruments such as recorders.
There are numerous little-leaf lindens in Amherst, including a row on Main Street just east of Pleasant Street. Tilia x. Europa is a European hybrid, several of which can be found locally. The Garden Club of Amherst has published tree guides and maps for tree walks that indicate the locations of lindens. See gardenclubbofamherst.org for more information.
In the next few weeks, be on the lookout for flowering linden trees. They deserve to be better known on this side of the Atlantic.
Most of us are familiar with just a handful of basil varieties, including sweet Italian basil and spicy, slightly licorice scented Thai basil. But there are many varieties of culinary basil; they come in many colors and sizes, with large leaves and tiny leaves, and scents of cinnamon, clove, lemon, lime and others.
At Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston Sunday, from 1 to 4 p.m., flower and herb expert Betsy Williams will lead an exploration of the fascinating and delicious world of basils. Williams will show how to use different basils in the kitchen and ways to preserve them. Participants will enjoy a tasting of basil butter, vinegar, sauce and wine and will plant three 10-inch pots to take home and enjoy during the warm days of summer.
Admission is $65 for members; $80 for non-members. For registration and more information, go to towerhillbg.org.
The cool damp weather we’ve had recently has been a boon for ticks. Dress appropriately (long pants and long sleeved shirts in light colors) for outdoor play and work and check yourself daily for the creepy critters. If you are concerned about a tick bite, you can contact the UMass Amherst Laboratory of Medical Zoology (LMZ), which tests ticks to determine whether or not they carry the pathogens that cause Lyme Disease and 10 other tick-borne pathogens. All species of ticks do not carry all of these pathogens. For information useful in the preliminary identification of ticks, you can visit URI Tick Encounter. Call the LMZ for more information at 545-1057.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at foxglover8@gmail.com.