Tilia

A medium-to-large native shade tree of central and eastern North America, reaching 50-80 feet with an ovate-rounded crown and large, asymmetric heart-shaped leaves. In June it carries pale-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers on pendulous cymes — each cluster hung from a distinctive strap-like leafy bract — that ripen into pea-sized nutlets. The fragrant June bloom is a premier nectar source: Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as attracting bees and butterflies, and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as having special value to both native and honey bees.

A dense, symmetrical shade and street tree of European origin, reaching about 50-60 feet with a tidy pyramidal-to-oval crown of small, heart-shaped, finely toothed dark-green leaves. In early-to-mid summer it carries clusters of small, pale-yellow, intensely fragrant flowers — each cluster hung from a narrow leafy bract — that are a premier nectar source and have long been dried for linden-flower tea. Small nutlets follow, the foliage casts deep even shade, and the formal habit and pollution tolerance have made it one of the classic urban and avenue lindens.