Pic Today 6/9/17

 

BIG OL' BASSWOOD

In fact, this white basswood tree

is the "largest known" of

its species,

and merits the title of

National Champion Tree in the U.S. 

Currently living and growing

at Missouri Botanical Garden,

this white basswood stands at 

103-feet tall, and was one

of Henry Shaw's original plantings

before the Civil War in the 1850s.

The name basswood comes from

"bast-wood" which is the useful

inner bark, used to make ropes & mats.

The flowers can be made into tea

and linden oil syrup from the sap.

Big trees are always magnificent.