Louisiana Plant ID | Tilia americana var. caroliniana (Carolina basswood)

FAMILY: TILIACEAE

ALTERNATE COMMON NAME:

LEAVES: alternate, simple, deciduous; cordate, coarsely toothed, asymmetrical base; could confuse with red mulberry

FLOWER: appears in spring after leaves; leaf-like bract of 3-5", cyme on end of long peduncle

FRUIT: cluster of small (1/4" diameter) nuts on the end of peduncle attached to a bract

TWIGS: winter buds are mucilaginous; twigs red to green; buds inequilateral

BARK: gray, furrowed with age; smooth grayish green when young

FORM: medium to large tree, 70-80’ x 2-3’ dbh

HABITAT: moist, fertile, well drained sites

WETLAND DESIGNATION: Facultative Upland (FACU): Usually occurs in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region

RANGE: eastern US

USES: wood is very even grained and easy to carve, used for plywood and pulp; excellent honey; limited value to wildlife, squirrels eat nuts, deer browse

Best Recognition Features:

large, cordate leaf with asymmetrical base
mucilaginous buds
flowering bract

NOTES: Tilia americana has been treated as a single highly polymorphic species, or split into as many as 20 species. The morphological features used to identify different species intergrade and are not reliable, thus we will treat it as one complex species.

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