ILLINOIS PLANT INFORMATION NETWORK ILPIN INFORMATION ON Tilia americana CLASS: DICOTYLEDENAE ORDER: MALVALES FAMILY: TILIACEAE SCIENTIFIC NAME: Tilia americana AUTHORITY: L. COMMON NAMES: AMERICAN LINDEN BASSWOOD SYNONOMY: Tilia glabra Vent. PLANTS CODE: TIAM NATURAL COMMUNITIES: FOREST UPLAND FOREST MESIC SAND FOREST DRY FLOODPLAIN FOREST MESIC PRIMARY LAKE SHORE FOREDUNE CULTURAL DEVELOPED LAND RESTORATION FOREST SAF FOREST COVER TYPE: CENTRAL Upland oak listed Bur oak White/Black/Northern Red- Oak NORTHERN Pine and Hemlock listed White pine - N. Red Oak - White Ash Northern Hardwoods listed Sugar Maple-Basswood Sugar Maple Beech - Sugar Maple NATURAL DIVISION: Wisconsin Driftless listed Rock River Hill Country Freeport Oregon listed Northeastern Morainal Morainal Lake Michigan Dunes Chicago Lake Plain Winnebago listed Grand Prairie Grand Prairie Springfield Western listed Western Forest Prairie Galesburg Carlinville listed Middle Mississippi Border Glaciated Driftless listed Southern Till Plain Effingham Plain Mt. Vernon Hill Country listed Wabash Border Vermilion River Ozark Northern Southern listed Lower Miss. R. Bottomlands Southern listed Shawnee Hills Greater Shawnee Hills Lesser Shawnee Hills listed COUNTIES: ADAMS ALEXANDER BOND BOONE BROWN BUREAU CALHOUN CARROLL CASS CHAMPAIGN CHRISTIAN CLARK CLAY CLINTON COLES COOK CRAWFORD DEKALB DEWITT DOUGLAS DUPAGE EDGAR EDWARDS EFFINGHAM FAYETTE FORD FRANKLIN FULTON GALLATIN GREENE GRUNDY HANCOCK HARDIN HENDERSON HENRY IROQUOIS JACKSON JEFFERSON JERSEY JO DAVIESS JOHNSON KANE KANKAKEE KENDALL KNOX LAKE LASALLE LAWRENCE LEE LIVINGSTON LOGAN MCHENRY MCLEAN MACON MACOUPIN MADISON MASON MENARD MERCER MONROE MONTGOMERY MORGAN MOULTRIE OGLE PEORIA PERRY PIATT PIKE POPE PUTNAM RANDOLPH RICHLAND ROCK ISLAND ST. CLAIR SALINE SANGAMON SCOTT SHELBY STARK STEPHENSON TAZEWELL UNION VERMILION WABASH WARREN WASHINGTON WHITE WHITESIDE WILL WILLIAMSON WINNEBAGO WOODFORD GROWTH FORM: Dicot-woody TAXONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS: ROOTS: Primary LEAF ARRANGEMENT: Alternate LEAF TYPE: Simple LEAF MARGIN: Serrate LEAF VENATION: Pinnate LEAF SHAPE: Cordate INFLORESCENCE: Dischasium FLOWER MEROUS: 5 FLOWER STRUCTURE: Complete Regular FLOWER COLOR: Yellow White FLOWER PLACEMENT: Hypogynous FRUIT: Nut DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC COMMENTS: Glabrous leaves; petioles without milky sap; glabrous, red winter buds; fruit is nut-like, dry, globose, indehiscent. GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: ORIGIN: Native POPULATION DYNAMICS: STATE STATUS: Not listed FEDERAL STATUS: Not listed COMMONNESS: Occasional ENDEMIC: NOT-ENDEMIC POPULATION STATUS COMMENTS: To common. BIOLOGIC: HABIT: Tree LIFE CYCLE: Perennial REPRODUCTION: Sexual Vegetative FLOWERING PERIOD: MONTH BEGINNING- 5 MONTH END- 7 TROPHIC STATUS: Autotrophic C02 FIXATION: C3 SEX: Perfect ECODISTRIBUTION COMMENTS: Rich woods; xeric dunes; dry steep slopes of riverbanks and ravines. ENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS: GROWTH OF SPECIES IN VARIOUS CONDITIONS: GRAVEL No data entered SAND No data entered SANDY LOAM No data entered LOAM Good CLAY LOAM No data entered CLAY No data entered DENSE CLAY No data entered ORGANIC SOIL No data entered NEUTRAL pH No data entered ACIDIC SOIL Good EXTREMELY ACID No data entered SALINE SOIL No data entered SODIC SOIL No data entered SODIC-SALINE No data entered ROCKY OUTCROPS No data entered GENTLE SLOPES No data entered MODERATE SLOPE No data entered STEEP SLOPES Good HABITAT: Moist Dry Xeric FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS: MAJOR DISPERSAL AGENTS: MAMMAL MAJOR POLLINATION AGENT: INSECT bee MYCORRHIZAE: ectomycorrhizal HUMAN RELATIONSHIP DATA: ALLERGENIC: Maybe EDIBLE: Yes SHOWY FLOWERS: YES AMOUNT: Low LANDSCAPING: YES AMOUNT: Medium HUMAN FACTOR COMMENTS: Maybe causes hayfever; flowers can be used as a tea; important honey tree; fruits ground into chocolate substitute. WILDLIFE AND LIVESTOCK INFORMATION: FOOD VALUE: DEER VALUE: - Leaves Stems Buds UPLAND GAME VALUE: - Fruit WATERFOWL VALUE: Unknown SMALL NON-GAME BIRD VALUE: Unknown SMALL MAMMAL VALUE: - Fruit AQUATIC MAMMAL VALUE: Unknown FISH VALUE: Unknown COVER VALUE: DEER: No data WATERFOWL: No data SMALL MAMMAL: No data FISH: No data SMALL BIRD: Good UPLAND GAME: No data AQUATIC MAMMAL: No data WILDLIFE COMMENTS: The seeds and bark of this species are a food for terrestrial furbearers, especially rabbits. It is also a good den tree. The fruit provides food for small mammals, especially eastern chipmunks. LIVESTOCK PALATABILITY DATA: No data entered REVEGETATION PLANTINGS: ESTABLISHMENT REQUIREMENTS: Easy SHORT-TERM REVEGETATION POTENTIAL: Poor LONG-TERM REVEGETATION POTENTIAL: Good WEEDINESS: COLONIZING SEED AVAILABILITY: Good PROCUREMENT COMMENTS: 2, 20, 27, 28, 29. PROPAGATION COMMENTS: Form-balled and burlapped, seeds. GENERAL COMMENTS: Best wood available for food container, particularly butter tubs, as it imparts no odor or taste to the contents. REFERENCES: Mohlenbrock, R. H., and D. M. Ladd. 1978. Distribution of Illinois vascular plants. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 282 pp. Mohlenbrock, R. H., ed. 1975. Guide to the vascular flora of Illinois. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 494 pp. Jones, G. N. 1963. Flora of Illinois. Third ed. American Midland Naturalist Monograph 7. University of Notre Dame, Indiana. 401 pp. Steyermark, J. A. 1963. Flora of Missouri. Iowa State University Press, Ames. 1725 pp. Gleason, H. A., and A. Cronquist. 1963. Manual of vascular plants of north- eastern United States and adjacent Canada. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York. 810 pp. Fernald, M. L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. 8th ed. American Book Co., New York. 1632 pp. Swink, F., and G. S. Wilhelm. 1979. Plants of the Chicago region. Third ed. The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois. 922 pp. Mohlenbrock, R. H. 1967-continuing. The illustrated flora of Illinois. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. Anon. 1981. Illinois plants for habitat restoration. Illinois Department of Conservation, Mining Program. Springfield, Illinois. 61 pp. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Society of American Foresters (SAF), Washington, D.C., 148 pp. Schwegman, J. E., G. D. Fell, M. Hutchison, G. Paulson, W. M. Shepherd, and J. White. 1973. Comprehensive plan for the Illinois Nature Preserves System. Part 2 - The Natural Divisions of Illinois. Illinois Nature Preserves Commission, Springfield. 32 pp., plus map. White, J., and M. H. Madany. 1978. Classification of natural communities in Illinois. Pages 309-405 in J. White, ed., Illinois natural areas inventory technical report. Vol. 1. Survey methods and results. Illinois Natural Areas Inventory, Urbana. Miller, R. B., and L. R. Tehon. 1929. The native and naturalized trees of Illinois. Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 18: 1-340. Mohlenbrock, R. H. 1980. Forest trees of Illinois. Third ed. Illinois Department of Conservation, Division of Forestry, Springfield. 331 pp. Downton, W. J. S. 1975. The occurrence of C4 photosynthesis among plants. Photosynthetica 9(1): 96-105. END OF DATA FOR SPECIES Tilia americana ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ILPIN was developed by Louis Iverson*, with data compiled by David Ketzner and Jeanne Karnes Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign, IL 61820 *currently employed by USDA Forest Service, 359 Main Rd., Delaware, OH 43015