Plant Stories
Linden
Tilia cordata · Tilia americana
For about two weeks in early summer, a flowering linden fills a whole street with scent, and the tree hums with bees. Across Eastern Europe, lipovy chai — linden tea — is as ordinary as chamomile is here: what you drink on a cold evening, or when you are coming down with something.
- Family
- Malvaceae (mallow family)
- Also called
- Lime tree, basswood; lipa in Russian and much of Eastern Europe
- Parts used
- Flowers with their pale bract
- Where I meet it
- Old streets and parks; a huge one stands at the end of our road
- Season
- Summer
Knowing it
A large tree with heart-shaped, finely toothed leaves, often lopsided at the base. In early summer, clusters of small cream-yellow flowers hang from a distinctive long, pale, strap-like leaf called a bract.
Gathering
Pick when about half the flowers in a cluster are open, taking the bract with them. Choose trees away from busy roads. The window is short — a week or two.
Drying & keeping
Spread thinly on paper in a shady, airy room. Dried flowers should stay pale and fragrant; brown, musty ones are past it. Store airtight and use within a year.
Preparing
A heaped spoonful of dried flowers per cup of just-boiled water, covered and steeped for ten minutes. A spoon of honey is traditional.
What is known
Linden flower tea is a traditional household drink for colds — taken hot to encourage sweating — and for winding down in the evening.
The linden was a sacred and much-loved tree for Slavic peoples. Its soft inner bark (bast) was stripped and woven into lapti, the bark shoes worn in Russian villages for centuries, and its pale wood was the carver's favourite for spoons and icons.
I dry a basketful every June. In January, opening that jar is the closest thing I know to opening a window onto summer.
There is little clinical research on linden. The European Medicines Agency recognises it as a traditional herbal medicine for relief of common cold symptoms and mild stress — a status based on long-standing use rather than clinical trials.