The blossom is certainly - apart from the friendly, shady crown of leaves - something particularly valuable on the linden tree. And not just for us humans. Here is a brief overview and a small plea for the honey-scented natural formation.
Delicious tea can be brewed from linden blossoms
Linden blossom biology
Typical of the blossoms of the linden tree is its long, narrow bract, which is later to carry the ripe fruit through the air for seeding. Attached to this single bract is a stem bearing several small, dainty, pale yellow flowers with many fine stamens. The very numerous flowers are formed in June, with the small-leaved lime being about two weeks later than the small-leaved lime. However, it takes many years for a linden tree to flower for the first time.
The flowers form an important reproductive pillar for the linden tree. Although it can also reproduce vegetatively via shoots or root suckers, the generative method via the flowers is the central one. The lovely, honey-like scent of the flowers also attracts numerous willing pollinators, especially bees, resulting in a high fertilization rate.
The characteristics of the linden blossom summarized again:
- dainty, stamen-rich, pale yellow flowers with a single bract
- first blossom of a linden only after many years
- Flowering time around June
- important but not the only reproductive factor
- honey-like scent, valuable bee pasture
What the linden blossom gives us
In addition to the wonderful, sweet scent in early summer, we also benefit from the linden blossom in other ways. It can also be used in a variety of culinary and medicinal ways. On the one hand, it can be used to brew a tasty, cold-inhibiting, fever-reducing, sleep- and digestion-promoting tea. Linden blossoms can also be used well for anti-inflammatory tinctures. The use as a flavoring agent, for example in homemade jams or your own liqueur preparations, is also particularly ingenious.