Genus Tilia, L. (Basswood)

Leaves - simple/alternate; edge somewhat irregularly very sharp-toothed. Outline - rounded, often very one-sided. Apex - pointed. Base - strongly heart-shaped. Leaf - five to eight inches long; deep green and shining above, beneath velvety and silvery white with purplish ribs. Bark - of the trunk very thick; on the young branches dark brown. Fruit - gray-downy, ovate, the size of small peas, clustered on a long stem of which the lower half is joined to half the length of a narrow, leaf-like bract, usually with a tapering base. Found - in rich woods, from the mountains of Pennsylvania to Georgia and westward. General Information - A straight-trunked tree, twenty to thirty feet high (often unbranching to half its height) and two to four feet in diameter. Its very tough inner bark is used for mats and coarse rope. The wood is white and soft and clear of knots. It is much used for wooden ware, in cabinet-work, and for the paneling of carriages, though now less esteemed than the tulip tree for these uses, owing to its liability to crack in bending.

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