Monstrous Old Basswood Traditional Cache

Monstrous Old Basswood is near Dryden’s Baseball field and Water Treatment plant. I came to it by foot on the nice trail from Springhouse Rd. It would be a P&G from Wall St in Dryden. Please BYOP and check the bottom of the page for cache info.

American Basswood Tilia americana

A deciduous tree from the Linden Family (Tiliaceae)

American Basswood,also known as American Linden, is native to all of New England and the Midwestern United States. American Basswood is a favorite tree of bees as they extract nectar from its flowers, making a very high-quality honey in the process. The weak wood of this tree is both lightweight and odorless, making it the wood of choice for packing food into boxes and crates. However, the inner bark of this and other Basswoods is very tough, and the Native Americans cut it into thin strips and used it for rope, mats, and even bandages.

The stately appearance of American Basswood makes it a favorite shade tree for large areas, such as parks and aboreta. Its leaves are the largest of any of the native Basswoods. When found in the open, it may reach 80 feet tall by 40 feet wide, with its lower limbs pendulous but upswept at the tips. As a member of the Linden Family, it is related to the other Lindens.

Planting Requirements - American Basswood prefers moist, well-drained, deep, rich soils of variable pH, but adapts to average soils that are seasonally dry. It thrives in full sun to partial sun, and is found in zones 3 to 8.

Potential Problems- American Basswood has some diseases and a host of pests that may negatively impact the growth of this large tree. The most troublesome are usually insects that chew the leaves; of these, the worst is often Japanese Beetle, which can skeletonize large sectors of the leaf canopy of this species (as well as other Lindens) in a few days.

Identifying Features - American Basswood

Leaf

American Basswood has alternate, ovate leaves that are about as wide as long, with a truncate (flattened) or heart-shaped base, finely serrated margins, and a short tip at the apex of the leaf.

Trees in dense summer foliage cast a deep shade on the ground underneath. Fall color is often green or chartreuse, but may be clear yellow or golden yellow in exceptional years.

Flower

American Basswood has perfect, small, creamy flowers that open in early summer. These are noted for both their fragrance and for their nectar, which is a favorite of bees in the production of honey. Flowering is obvious from a distance - not because of the actual flowers, but due to the showy, lime-colored, curving bracts that contrast against the background of dark-green foliage.

Fruit

Flowers of American Basswood mature into rounded fruits that ripen by late summer, with the showy persistent bracts changing to golden yellow in autumn, then beige in winter. Fruits either abscise or are eaten by wildlife in autumn.

Buds

Buds of most basswoods range from reddish brown to bright red to green in winter, including American Basswood.

Bark

Young bark is smooth and a shiny light gray, whereas mature wood is lightly fissured and medium gray to brown, with darker furrows. Ridges are usually flattened and either straight vertical or interlacing, and often brightly reflect the winter sunlight.

The cache is a tied in , camoed, “small” pill bottle, that needs two rubber bands to make it easy to retrieve the log. Please make a neck on the log bag to make a handle to grab.Then return the log in the bottle with this “handle” up.