Categories: Gardening

The Incredible (and Edible) Linden Tree

Linden trees, also called Lime, Basswood, or Bastwood, are some of the most useful trees you can find. Long lived, pretty, and surprisingly valuable as a food source, the linden trees are useful for almost any purpose. Given the opportunity, I would plant linden trees everywhere, since they are some of the most prized trees for almost any purpose.

Finding Linden Trees

Linden trees are easily recognizable by their leaves, flowers, or fruit. The leaves are asymmetric heart shapes, and they almost always have fruits or flowers on the branches. Both the flowers and fruit are suspended from tiny “tongue leaves” and the fruit looks like a small fuzzy pea. Cities plant them as an urban shade plant since they grow fast and dense. They are found almost all the way across the United States and Europe, preferring climates with a cold winter (about zones 3-7).

As a Food Source

Linden trees are some of my favorite wild edibles. Almost every part on them besides the wood can be eaten in some form or another. The leaves, when new and still growing, are actually an incredibly palatable salad green. They have a nice fresh taste.

The flowers are slightly sweet and used for medicinal purposes in Europe. They can be made into tea, or you can just grab a handful and munch. They seem to have a few days in which they are at the peak of sweetness, and finding those days can be difficult without trial and error.

The fruits have an edible core, but it is a lot of work to get at it, so I have only tried it a few times. That said, were I desperate, there is usually an abundance of last year’s fruits around the base of the tree in winter that could be gathered and stored.

As a Fiber Source

The name “bast wood” implies that the wood itself has value as a source of fiber for weaving. The inner bark can be peeled and soaked in water, and once that is done, it becomes a strong fiber for the production of clothing. Today that use is almost dead, but if I needed a source of natural fibers for rope and had one available, I would definitely consider it an option.

As a Wood Source

The wood is quite strong with little grain. That makes it a great wood for carving, since you can carve intricately without worrying about tearing the natural grain of the piece. It makes a decent wood for instruments, and it was a traditional wood for instruments and carvings in the middle ages.

Final Notes

Chances are, you have seen plenty of linden trees in your area. They are a common site in cities and are widely planted for all of the reasons outlined above. If you are looking for a shade tree that you can also pull a salad off of, look no further than the Tilia family, commonly known as the linden tree.

Sources:

Arbor Day Foundation: http://www.arborday.org/treeguide/treeDetail.cfm?id=119

Nathan Carlos Rupley: Two Edible Trees: http://nathanrupley.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/two-edible-trees/

Karla News

Recent Posts

Katrina Victims Tagged like Dogs in the Name of Testing RFID Technology

We have all seen the pictures of dead bodies in murky water and heard all…

36 seconds ago

Find Your Workout Heart Rate. to Maximize your Workout Potential

This article discusses the most effective way of determining a good workout heart rate range.…

6 mins ago

Why Elie Wiesel’s Night is Called Night

Elie Wiesel's Night is a work of historical fiction based on his own experiences during…

13 mins ago

Top 5 Best “Star Wars” Villains

"Star Wars", the brainchild of director George Lucas, is now property of the Walt Disney…

18 mins ago

Growing Up with Albinism and Legal Blindness

If you've found this article you probably already know what albinism is but in case…

24 mins ago

Magic Kits Make the Perfect Gift

During the Holiday season the main concern of many people is what gifts they want…

24 mins ago

This website uses cookies.