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Common Name: Caucasian linden
Type: Tree
Family: Malvaceae
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 40 to 60 feet
Spread: 20 to 30 feet
Bloom Time: May to June
Bloom Color: White, Yellow
Bloom Description: Pale yellowish-white
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flowers: Showy Flowers, Fragrant Flowers
Fruit: Showy Fruit
Tolerates: Drought
Uses: Shade Tree, Street Tree
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, 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. Propagate from cuttings. Many trees sold in commerce are grafted. Purchase trees on their own roots, where available. Basal suckers on grafted trees need to be promptly removed.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Caucasian linden (also commonly called Crimean linden) is a hybrid whose parentage is unclear but is generally considered to be T. cordata and T. dasystyla. It is a medium deciduous tree that typically grows to 40-60’ tall and to 20-30’ wide. It has a rounded pyramidal shape with its branching becoming more pendulous with age. Fragrant pale yellowish-white flowers appear in drooping clusters (cymes) attached to distinctive papery wing-like bracts (2-3” long) in May-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 give way to conspicuous nutlets that are attached to papery bracts. Nutlets ripen in late summer, but the seeds are usually sterile. Ovate to rounded, glossy deep green leaves (2-4” long) have acuminate tips, serrate margins and irregular cordate bases. Fall color is an undistinguished pale green to pale yellow. Trees in the genus Tilia are commonly called lindens, basswoods or limes. Tilia probably comes from the Greek word ptilon (wing) in reference to the wing-like bracts to which flowers and seeds are attached. Euchlora comes from the Greek words eu (good) and chloros (green) in reference to the foliage.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. This hybrid reportedly has better resistance to aphids (resulting in less of a problem with sooty mold) that many of the other varieties of Tilia. Verticillium wilt is infrequent, but can be fatal. Powdery mildew, leaf spots and canker may occur. Additional insect visitors include borers, scale, leaf miner, lace bugs, caterpillars and Japanese beetles. Spider mites can be troublesome, particularly in hot, dry periods.
Garden Uses
Ornamental shade tree with dense, low-branched, broad-pyramidal form. Shade tree, lawn tree or street tree.