American Linden

I am wondering how you tell the age of a tree and how you tell the height~~~this is (from 2 and a half feet off the ground) 16.9 feet around.

You're not in the Towson area, are you? I remember beautiful old tulip poplars from 4th grade, when we lived there for a year. 1972, I think.

Tulip poplars grow pretty fast. My guess is that tree would be maybe about 100 years old.

If you're really curious, arborists can do what amounts to an Xray on trees these days and get a decent estimate from a ring count.

Scott

But Scott, that's a Linden.

Thank you Kevin, I imagine that Scott is still suffering from the aftereffects of the road trip, but he had me going. I thought it a regional name for my beloved Basswood. Ken

And I'm an idiot!!! A classic moment for a classic Homer Simpson, "D'oh!!!"

Should I go back and "Edit" my mistake and save myself from humiliation and ridicule from my DG peers? If I fixed my post, it would make Kevin's correction seem odd and out of place. People would think HE made a mistake, and not me. I could even follow his post with my own correction that would cement the impression! Or I could make up another silly name for VV and divert the attention away from me? Or I could mention an invasive exotic and get Acquittal all stirred up, again, diverting attention from me.

These are all brilliant schemes, but, I'd only screw them up somehow and make myself even more of a mockery.

In the meantime, American basswoods don't grow as fast as tulip poplars, and I don't remember any of them from my childhood, in Towson or elsewhere.

Scott

Whew, all's right again in the great state of Ohio. For a moment I thought I felt the ground shift.

Linden (Tilia americana) is extremely variable in growth rate and can be quite long lived if it avoids storm damage. It is difficult to age via increment cores because the rings are not well defined and old trees often are very hollow, yielding short cores. Further, it sprouts readily (like Platanus) from cut or broken stumps, so the roots might be a century older than the top.

There are a few old Tilia americana around the Springfield Illinois home of Abraham Lincoln. They were planted in the 1840s and range up to about 2.5 feet in diameter. Maybe that helps -- probably not.

But at least we know you don't have Liriodendron! So nice that Scott screws up so publicly and blatantly to take the pressure off the rest of us! Thanks Deduction!!!

Guy S.

Thanks...yes this tree had many huge suckers growing around it when I first moved here and we cut them all off..but they still sprout every year (30 years). I DO live near Towson (Ruxton actually) and we have HUNDREDS of old Tulip Poplars and Beech. I am not crazy about them...always dropping something. . . and reseeding everywhere. I still think the Linden is very old... Nancy

Leviathan:

You really must stop following me around.

Here's where I just came back from today. This mammoth individual is next to the Henry Clay grave site (that's his backside at the very top right of the pic) in Lexington (KY) Cemetery.

This tree pre-dates the founding of this country. I really should get its trunk measurements. Before the big ice storm of February 2003, I think this was the second-largest basswood in the US.

And now I'm sorry for being rude; Nancy, you have a lovely linden and I'm jealous as all get-out. Thank you for caring for it all those years.

Here's another image of Lexington's bracted brown beauty.

I think we need to have an intervention with Scott, and pry off the beer goggles. He's been in an inebriated haze ever since returning from The Excellent Adventure.

Let's try something. Look, Scott, look: what's that?

Hello Vainglorious Vole,

Is it a Carpinus?

My guess is Carpinus betulis, and a very old one at that!

John, can you email me that photo so I could forward it on to someone?

Scott

I'd take a guess at between 100-120 years old

Resin

Mine is older...