Flat-faced bark of Basswood

Basswood (Tilia americana) is more common in our area than I ever imagined when I began studying botany in general, and trees in particular.

A tree has many features that are useful in identification. The first feature most of us see is the bark, though that's often discounted because a) the leaves get most of the publicity and b) many of the barks look the same. Until I read BARK: A Field Guide to the Northeast, I mainly relied on the leaves, considered the twigs and buds, and only rarely took much note of the trunk standing literally right before my eyes.

One of the challenges in using bark as an ID tool is that most trees have a youthful, mid-age, and mature form. Even after reading BARK, I tended to group mature trees into one of three categories: smooth (like beech), peeling (like paper or silver birch), or ridged-furrowed (a huge group including oak, maple, elm, pine, hemlock and many, many more).

Basswood bark had, in my mind, gotten lost in the ridged-furrowed group. Yesterday, however, I learned a new character to its ridges that I expect will make this species easier to identify. The furrows are shallow, and the ridge face is flat. Also, the ridge-furrows run vertically up the trunk in long linear patterns. Basswood leaves are also pretty distinctive with their heart-shaped asymmetrical base and light-colored bracts that highlight the tiny flowers.

Trees are part of, and largely define, natural communities by giving the community vertical structure and also lending a name - White Pine Forest, Red Maple Swamp, or Pitch Pine Woodland for example. Basswood is characteristic of a Maple - Basswood - Ash Forest which you can read about here: http://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/communities/maplebassashforest.htm.
Learning more about the different features of each tree, as well as those with which it is often associated in a particular landscape, makes it easier to pick out of a crowded forest or woodland.