Allegheny Mountain Woodland Association

Basswood

Form

Form	A large tree usually attaining a height of 60-70 feet, but may reach a height of 120 feet with a diameter of 4 1/2 feet. Trunk straight, clean, with little taper. Crown dense, broad, rather deep, ovoid or rounded.

Bark

Bark	On old trunks firm but easily cut, thick, longitudinally furrowed into flat scaly ridges. Ridges often divied by tranverse secondary furrows. On young stems dark gray and smooth.

Twigs

Twigs

Smooth or very finely hairy, shining, bright red; second year olive, olive red, or covered with a gray skin; usually zigzag, tough, mucilaginous if chewed, covered with scattered dark, oblong lenticels. In cross-section, characteristic blunt conical masses with intervening lighter colored areas are present.

Buds

Buds

Alternate; terminal bud absent; ovoid, 2-ranked, stout, often somewhat flattened, divergent, usually deep red, occasionally greenish, mucilaginous, smooth or sometimes slightly hairy toward apex. Bud scales glabrous, thick, rounded at back, usually three visible; one large scale makes buy assymetrical.

Leaves

Leaves

Alternate, simple ovate, to orbicular, 4-7 inches long, firm in texture, long pointed at apex, deeply toothed on margin with sharp teeth, unequally heart shaped to truncate at base, dark green and shiny on upper surface, green and smooth on lower except for a few rusty hairs. Leaf stalks slender, 1/3 length of the blade. The side of the leaf nearest the branch is the largest.

Flowers

Flowers

Appear about June. Perfect, regular, sweet, fragnant, yellowish white, 5-20 in drooping cymose clusters. The long peduncle which bears the flowers is united for about half its length with conspicuous green bract.

Fruit

Fruit

A woody, spherical, nut-like drupe about the size of a pea. Occurs singly or in small clusters with a common stalk attached to a leafy bract and often persisting far into winter.

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