In different countries and on different continents, different types of trees bloom earlier or later than each other. On the territory of Russia, the most late flowering plant is the linden or Tilia, belonging to the Malvaceae family. Such a time for a given tree usually falls in the middle of summer, when the time for flowering of other trees has long passed.
Instructions
Step 1
Residents of Russia can recognize linden by its characteristic leaves, which botanists characterize as alternate, cordate, oblique-cordate and oblique-oval with a pronounced serrate edge. When they bloom in the spring, stipules are formed, which literally fall off in one week.
Step 2
At the flowering stage in late June or closer to mid-July, linden flowers form umbellate inflorescences extending from the bracts, half adherent to the leaf plate. It was at this time that the tree emits that wonderful sweetish smell, and linden tea lovers collect the flowers of the plant, while it has not yet entered the stage of the beginning of fruit ripening. The drink with flowers not only tastes good, but also has medicinal properties.
Step 3
The first flowering of trees occurs approximately at the 20th year of the plant's life in natural conditions and at the 30-32nd year - in artificial conditions. Its duration is from 10 to 18 days, when linden gives off its delicate, very subtle and slightly sweet aroma to the air, which dissipates for many tens of meters around and reaches high intensity in the case of flowering not one tree, but a whole grove.
Step 4
The common place of distribution of linden is the temperate and subtropical zone of the Northern Hemisphere. It is believed that most of these trees grow closer to the territory of southeast Asia. For example, 15 linden endemics are common in China. There are much fewer trees in the temperate zone of Europe, the rest of Asia and very few in North America.
Step 5
Linden usually chooses warm and sufficiently moist soils as places of growth, due to which it is often used in the process of landscaping city parks and rural areas. In addition to these two criteria, linden does not "make" great demands on the type of soil, but still prefers rich and fertile lands.
Step 6
In Russia, the following type of linden is most common - Tilia Cordata or heart-shaped linden or winter linden or small-leaved linden, the age of which can reach 120-130 years, and growth - 30-33 meters with a very powerful trunk diameter of 2-3 (less often - up to 5) meters. At the same time, botanical scientists in the country discovered plants whose age reached 800-1000 years, but there are, of course, only a few of them. The heart-shaped linden is widespread in Russia almost to the very border with Finland on the one hand and far beyond the natural border formed by the Ural ridge on the other.
