Common Name: European linden
Type: Tree
Family: Malvaceae
Native Range: Europe
Zone: 3 to 7
Height: 50.00 to 70.00 feet
Spread: 30.00 to 50.00 feet
Bloom Time: June
Bloom Description: Pale yellow
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Shade Tree, Street Tree, Flowering Tree
Flower: Showy, Fragrant
Attracts: Butterflies
Fruit: Showy
Tolerate: Drought
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist, fertile, well-drained loams, but adapts to a wide range of soil conditions. Good tolerance for urban conditions. Promptly remove root suckers as they appear. This hybrid can produce viable seed.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Tilia × europaea, commonly called European linden, is a hybrid cross between two native European lindens (T. cordata × T. platyphyllos). It is perhaps most similar to its T. platyphyllos parent, which is the tree commemorated by Franz Schubert in Der Lindenbaum (The Linden Tree). This hybrid is a medium to large deciduous tree, typically growing to 50-70’ (less frequently to 120’) tall with a broad-columnar habit. Fragrant pale yellow flowers in drooping cymes appear in late spring (June). When a tree is in full bloom, bees often visit in such abundant numbers that humming can be heard many feet from the tree. Flowers are followed by small nutlets attached to narrow, bract-like, strap-shaped leafy wings (to 4.5” long). Nutlets ripen in late summer. Ovate, dark green leaves (to 4” long) with acuminate tips and serrate margins are pale green beneath. Fall color is an undistinguished pale green to pale yellow.
Genus name comes from the Latin name for the linden or lime tree, known in southern Sweden as linn and the origin of the name Linnaeus.
Specific epithet means European.
Lindens are usually called limes in Great Britain.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Verticillium wilt is infrequent, but can be fatal. Powdery mildew, sooty mold, leaf spots and canker may occur. Insect visitors include borers, scale, leaf miner, lace bugs, aphids and Japanese beetles. Mites can be troublesome in dry periods.
Uses
Shade, lawn tree or street tree.