Small-leaved heart-shaped linden is a fairly common plant included in the family of malvaceae. Until a certain time, the tree was attributed to an independent family of linden trees.
Among the ancient Slavs, linden was considered a symbol of love and beauty, and among Western Europeans - the guardian of the family hearth. From it, compositions were formed near churches and temples. The burning of this tree amounted to a huge misconduct. All its parts were used for medicinal purposes. Heart-shaped linden was a source of honey and raw materials for the manufacture of various utensils and household items.
Tree name
In the old days, linden was called lubnyak, a lecher and an ureter. These ethnonyms are given by the people because of the materials that the tree bark endowed. Bast - part of the bark from which bast and bast were obtained. The Russian ethnonym is tied to the ancient word "lipati" meaning "sticky." Young leaves and fresh tree sap are sticky.
From two words, the linden received the heart-shaped Latin name Tilia cordata. The basis for the generic name of the tree was the Greek word ptilon (modified in tilia), translated as “wing”, or “feather”. It is directly associated with pterygoid bracts that are fused with peduncles. With the species name, the plants associated the shape of its leaves, resembling a heart. It comes from the Latin cordata - "heart".
Area
European open spaces and adjoining Asian regions were chosen by heart-shaped linden for living. She captured vast spaces in the Russian forest and forest-steppe zones. There are islands and pure linden trees. Huge clean limestones covered a part of the lands of the southern Urals. In other regions, they managed to capture a small area.
Basically, linden grows as an impurity to the stand of broad-leaved and mixed forests. Often found mixed with oak. Often lime trees grow in the second tier of oak forests and coniferous-deciduous forests. It grows in separate fragments in the west of Siberia. Here its range ends in the lower Irtysh, on the right coast. Most limestone is found in the Urals and the European territories bordering it.
Ecology
The tree is demanding on soil fertility. It is not able to tolerate bogs, but rather shade-tolerant. Linden undergrowth develops excellently in the second tier, under the shadow cast by dense spruce forests. The trees grow luxurious crown with rich foliage, giving a dense shadow. Under such a canopy, many shrubs and trees cannot grow.
Since the gas resistance of the heart-shaped linden is quite large, many urban plantings are formed from it. Linden alleys are created along the streets. In parks and squares form group plantings and solo compositions. It is good for roadside plantings.
In urban landscapes, not only small-leaved linden is used, but also its closest relative. Large-leaved linden, whose homeland is the central regions of Europe, is added to the various plantings of cities. Trees perfectly tolerate the cutting of crowns.
Next of kin
In the Far East, there are two varieties of linden - Amur and Manchurian. They are characterized by medicinal properties and morphology of heart-shaped linden. In large-leaved linden, earlier flowering is noted. The size of the leaves and flowers is more than that of a relative.
Biological description
Linden refers to deciduous trees. Slender tree trunks, crowned with wide tent-like crowns, grow to a height of 20-38 meters. Young lindens are covered with smooth brown bark. In old trees, the upper layer of the bark of dark gray shades on the trunks is dotted with deep furrowed cracks.
The plant has a powerful root system. Its strong core root penetrates deep into the soil, providing the tree with high wind resistance.
Alternate, cordate, pulled out on top in a pointed tip is strewn with a heart-shaped linden. Their description does not end there. The length and width of the leaves vary in the range of 2-8 centimeters. Shrub shoots are covered with large leaves, their size reaches 12 centimeters.
The finely serrated from the edges of the plate have a clear venation. Their top is bare, green, and the bottom is bluish, strewn with yellowish-brown hairs in veins, gathered in bunches. Long leaf felt-pubescent petioles have green color in summer and red color in autumn. The linden leaves bloom very late. Its crowns only turn green by the end of May, or even at the beginning of June. Only oaks dress on foliage later than lime.
The aromatic flowers of linden are heart-shaped painted in yellowish-white tones. Their diameter does not exceed one centimeter. They, gathered in bunches of 3-15 pieces, form corymbose inflorescences attached to a greenish-yellow bract of the lanceolate leaf, which is fused to the inflorescence axis by half the length.
The cup of the flowers is five-leafed, the corolla is five-leafed, with many stamens. The pestle has a five-nest ovary, a short thickened column and 5 stigmas. Flowering begins in early July (occasionally in late June). Trees bloom for 2-3 weeks. Various insects pollinate the heart-shaped linden.
The botanical description of the fruits of this tree is particularly interesting. The fruit of a linden is called a nut. It has a spherical shape and a diameter of 4-8 mm. The shell of a tiny nut is thin and fragile. Nuts ripen in September, and begin to crumble with the advent of winter, when the crowns are completely bare.
The fruits fall in whole inflorescences. Having barely touched the snow cover, they, seized by the wind, fly away into the distance. In winter, during the thaw period, the snow cover is compacted, twitching with infusion. Seedlings, equipped with a sail - a flowering leaf, are carried by a blow of wind along the ice crust, like tiny boers.
Breeding
In nature, the tree prefers to propagate vegetatively. It develops from layering and perennial growth. In stucco, the main part of the stand is essentially of overgrown origin.
However, it is not in vain that countless nuts are formed on trees. Linden does not bypass seed renewal. In forests, there are always sprouts emerging from its seeds. To understand that a sprout with two very dissected leaves is a linden is too difficult. These leaves are not at all like those gathered in a crown.
Growth in linden seedlings is slow. Its acceleration is noted in the sixth year of life of the shoots. Until the age of sixty, linden grows rapidly, and then it seems to freeze. By 130-150, she, having reached the limit of growth, ceases to increase height.
However, this does not apply to the width of the trunk and crown. They continue to grow slowly over the years. Heart-shaped linden - long-livers. Trees live for 300-400 years. Individual relict specimens survive to 600 years.
Chemical composition
Fragrant linden flowers are saturated with flavonoids, tannins, carotene, saponins. They have vitamin C, sugars, and essential oils. In the bracts, mucus with tannins was found. The linden bark is rich in triterpenoid tiliadin.
The tree nuts are enriched with fatty oil. In nuts, its concentration approaches 60%. The quality of this oil is high, it is not inferior to Provence. It tastes like almond or peach oil. As part of the leaves found carbohydrates, mucus, carotene and vitamin C.
Pharmacology
Heart-shaped linden belongs to the group of medicinal plants with a mild antispasmodic, secretolytic, diuretic and diaphoretic effect. Lime blossom is characterized by diaphoretic, anti-inflammatory, sedative, antipyretic and diuretic effects on the human body.
