Basswood

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Basswood leaf scar

Basswood bark

Basswood

Basswood leaf

Basswood

Basswood fruit

Basswood flowers

Basswood bracts

Basswood bracts

Basswood buds

Basswood bark

Basswood flowers

Basswood buds

Basswood

Basswood

Morphology

Trunk

Straight; crown broad, spreading, somewhat pyramidal; bark dark gray, thick, deeply furrowed into broad, scaly ridges.

Twigs

Smooth, reddish, zigzag; terminal bud absent; lateral buds egg-shaped, 1/4 inch long, pointed, smooth, red; leaf scars 2-ranked, half-elliptical, somewhat elevated; bundle scars 3 or compound and scattered.

Leaves

Alternate, deciduous, simple, broadly egg-shaped or heart-shaped to nearly circular, 2.8 to 6 inches long, 3.2 to 4 inches wide, thick, firm, glabrous, dark green above, paler below; margins sharply toothed; tip pointed to abruptly tapering-pointed; base uneven, often rounded on 1 side and straight on other; stalk slender, 1.6 to 2.8 inches long.

Flowers

June, after leaves, fragrant, to 3/5 inch wide, in cymes; cymes solitary, loose, drooping, stalk attached for 1/2 length to oblong-linear, yellowish-green, leaf-like bract 3.6 to 4 inches long; stalk 1.6 to 2.4 inch long; sepals 5, downy; petals 5, creamy-white; stamens numerous, in 5 clusters; stigma 5-lobed.

Fruit

Late July-August; nut-like, spherical, hard, pale tan to gray, woolly, about size of pea; seed spherical, dark brown.

Ecology

Habitat

Wooded flood plains, stream banks, base of bluffs, often on north-facing slopes.

Distribution

East 1/3 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native American steeped the leaves and used the liquid as a wash and steeped the inner bark to treat dysentery and to increase urination. The inner bark was cut into strips, boiled, rubbed to separate the fibers, and spun into thread or twisted into cords. The cords were used to make rope and belts and was used to tie together wigwams and medicine lodges.

Additional Notes