Bigleaf Linden (also known as Basswood, Silver Linden and Lime Tree)

Left to right: Linden (92), Sara (45), Joe (50), Sam (9), Olivia (11), Finn (2)

Location: Pacific Ave. at Humberside Ave.

You might know the Bigleaf Linden by one of its other names – Silver Linden, Basswood or Lime. This tree wins the prize for overall usefulness. Not only is just about every part of it edible, but the “bass” in “basswood” is a corruption of the term “bast” which refers to the strong, flexible fibres found in the outer layers of many plants like flax, jute, hemp, and linden trees. These are a renewable resource that we are now “discovering” however the First Nations were already soaking the basts out of Linden bark while Europeans were still arguing about whether the earth was flat.

By the way, the term “Lime Tree” has nothing to do with the citrus tree by the same name. It has to do with birdlime, a sticky substance that was once widely used for trapping birds on tree branches as a simple way of hunting them.

If you have a Bigleaf Linden in your neighbourhood then you have a living pantry. The leaves and shoots are edible and are especially tasty when young. The flowers are also edible but can also be dried and used for tea, which is consumed for enjoyment and for medicinal purposes. The bracts (neither true leaves nor  flowers) which grow below the blossoms are also edible. Tilia platyphyllos also offers an abundance of small nuts which can be eaten raw off the tree and do not need to be soaked as many other nuts do to mellow their natural bitterness. There are two ways to make a delicious syrup from the Linden. You can steep the flowers with sugar or honey, or you can tap the tree like a maple and use the sap either as it comes out or boiled down to concentrate the flavour and sweetness. Though reportedly it needs to be concentrated even further than Norway Maple sap if you want to make a truly strong syrup.

You may also enjoy the cambium which can be eaten alone, used like a vegetable in other dishes or dried and pummeled into flour. Like the all of the other edible parts of this remarkable tree the cambium can be eaten raw or cooked.

IMPORTANT note about eating the cambium of any tree: you must beware of girdling and thereby killing the tree. If you wish to take cambium from a tree you need to take narrow strips that run along (NOT around) the trunk. The cambium is the core of the tree’s circulatory system. If you sever it completely the tree will die!

Luckily for us the Bigleaf Linden is abundant throughout North America, lives well over 100 years and grows to a significant size (though because of this you may need a ladder if you plan to make Linden leaf salad on a regular basis.) They are distinctive and easy to find. Look for the toothed, lop-sided broad flat leaves with multiple veins from the stem that also have branches to the sides:

Linden Leaf

The silver-gray bark has fine, shallow grooves that run along the branches and the trunk:

Linden Bark