Tilia americana
 
Michigan Native: Yes
 
Alternate Names
Linn, American linden, white basswood (var. heterophylla), American basswood
 
Description
Basswood family (Tiliaceae). Native, large deciduous trees, the bark gray and furrowed with flat ridges. Leaves deciduous, alternate, more or less unevenly heart-shaped or the base often nearly truncate, petiolate, the blades 5-12.5 cm wide, thick and slightly leathery, with shallowly toothed margins, glabrous on both sides or with some pubescence on the lower surface. Flowers yellowish-white, 10-14 mm broad, fragrant and nectar-bearing, in drooping, 6-20-flowered clusters hanging on a stalk that diverges from near the center of an oblong, leaflike and strongly veined bract 5-10 cm long. Fruits mostly globose, 8-10 mm broad, hard and dry, indehiscent. The common name is from “bastwood,” referring to use of the inner bark, the “bast,” for rope, baskets, etc.
 
Download USDA Plant Guide HERE
 
https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=TIAM