Mongolian Linden - Tilia mongolica  [1]
Tree Family Tiliaceae  - Basswoods, Lindens, Limes
[Cirrus Home]  [Tree Encyclopedia]  [Family Tiliaceae]
 

Mongolian Linden fall foliage
Mongolian Linden fall foliage

Chinese: 蒙椴 ,  meng duan

Trees to 10 m. Bark grayish, exfoliating irregularly; branchlets glabrous; winter buds ovoid, glabrous. Petiole slender, 2-3.5 cm, glabrous; leaf blade broadly ovate or orbicular, 4-6 × 3.5-5.5 cm, abaxially hairy only in axils of veins, adaxially glabrous, lateral veins 4-5 pairs, base slightly cordate or obliquely truncate, margin coarsely serrate, apex acuminate, usually 3-lobed. Cymes 6-12-flowered, 5-8 cm; peduncle glabrous. Pedicel slender, 5-8 mm.

Mongolian linden, from seed, is 14 years old
Mongolian linden, from seed, is 14 years old

Custom Search

Bracts on ca. 10 mm stalk, narrowly oblong, 3.5-6 × 0.6-1 cm, adnate to peduncle for 1/2 of length, both surfaces glabrous, base obtuse, apex obtuse. Sepals lanceolate, 4-5 mm, abaxially subglabrous. Petals 6-7 mm. Stamens as long as sepals; staminodes slightly smaller. Ovary hairy; style glabrous. Fruit obovoid, 5-angled or obscurely angled, 6-8 mm; exocarp thickly leathery, fragile, hairy, indehiscent. Fl. Jul. 2n = 164*.

Native to China: Hebei, Henan, W Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shanxi.  [1]

Mongolian Linden foliage
Mongolian Linden foliage resembles birch

This is one of the smallest of the lindens, and typically reaches heights of 30 feet. This plant has done reasonably well in urban situations and has exhibited a good deal of resistance to feeding of the Japanese beetle that causes problems for many of the lindens in acid soils, Dirr lists the plant as resistant to aphids.

Older Mongolian linden
Older Mongolian linden at 52 years is about 12 m. tall

References
  1. www.eFloras.org , Flora of China, Tilia mongolica
  2. Colin Tudge, The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter, Reprint (Three Rivers Press, 2007).
  3. NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY, National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees--E: Eastern Region, Chanticleer Press Ed (Knopf, 1980).

 

              
 
       web      www.cirrusimage.com
[Cirrus Home]  [Tree Encyclopedia]

© Bruce Marlin Red Planet Inc.