Plant · P-146

Littleleaf Linden

Tilia cordata

Littleleaf Linden is a dense-canopied shade tree that also feeds you - young leaves work raw in salads or sandwiches straight off the branch, and its flowers dry into the classic calming linden tea. Bees flock to it more than almost any other tree, and beekeepers set hives nearby specifically for the prized honey it yields. It needs cool summers, doing best where temperatures stay below roughly 95 F for extended stretches, which limits it to cooler temperate zones rather than a hot-summer climate. Pick only newly opened flowers for tea - older ones have caused symptoms of narcotic intoxication.