74. Tiliaceae

I'm not sure how this family got on my list. For some reason, I was wrongly associating the Tilia genus with the tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, which actually belongs to the Magnoliaceae family. I wish the tulip tree was in this family, because then I could mention that it is the tallest non-conifer in the eastern U.S., something I did not realize until now.

But this family is not about the tulip tree, but rather the linden tree, Tilia americana. The linden is a very common tree of the northeast and midwest with toothed, heart-shaped leaves (above) that resemble that of a poplar or cottonwood. I think the reason I listed this family is that my Dad has one of these trees on his property. They never registered in a big way for me, so maybe I slipped them onto my list in a effort to get to know them better.

Linden actually seems to be the German name for these trees (there is a boulevard in Berlin called "Unter den Linden") whereas they are also called basswood in the US and lime in the UK. My great-grandfather, who was from Ohio, was named Lindenberg, which is German for "Tilia tree hill".

According to the present day APG system of classification, Tiliaceae isn't even a family anymore; it has been merged into the Malvaceae family -- the mega-family that also swallowed up the Sterculiaceae (chocolate family) and Bombacaceae (a fascinating family that included baobabs, balsa and durian).