Basswood longevity   Adam Van Buskirk   Mar 25, 2004 09:49 PST     The large leaf and small leaf european lindens (tilia cordata, tilia platyphyllos and hybrids) have a reputation for considerable longevity on the european continent, largely because of their ability to compensate for breakage or decay by vigorous sprouting. Most of the well known examples in europe are short trunked open grown examples, and I have seen many fine old european lindens in parks in the eastern U.S. Washington park in Albany NY contains a small leafed linden about 140 years old with a truly impressive volume of wood, growing vigorously and in its prime.     In light of this, I was wondering if anyone on the list has any knowledge about the longevity of the american tilia species.   I have read references to a fairly short life span for the species, and I have not heard reports of any impressively aged specimens. Due to the close relation between the american and european species, I have been wondering why our Basswood is never mentioned in discussions of the oldest trees in the east. Basswood longevity   Robert Leverett   Mar 25, 2004 10:55 PST  Adam:     While I cannot say why Tilia americana does not have a long lifespan, I can say that I have found no exceptionally old trees in Massachusetts. My sense is that they typically live to ages of less than 200 years. Maybe others on the list including Neil Pederson have examples of older basswoods. The best source of longevity data for the basswood may be Dr. Lee Frelich in Minnesota. He has done research in some of the East's best basswood habitat for years. Lee, could you enlighten us? Bob Basswood longevity   Lee E. Frelich   Mar 25, 2004 12:25 PST  Bob: Basswoods commonly live 100-150 years (above ground). A few might live for 200 years. Since they stump sprout, we don't know how long an individual lives when defined by genetics, rather than an above ground stem. Probably several centuries. The above ground basswood tree usually dies from buckling of the stem. They are poor at walling off fungi and they all get hollow, and as the tree's rings get smaller with advanced age and a larger trunk, the size of the hollow eventually catches up with growth and reaches 3/4 of the total diameter, and the tree collapses at that point. Lee Basswood longevity    greentreedoctor   Mar 25, 2004 14:27 PST  ...basswood...they all get hollow...reaches 3/4 of the total diameter... Lee: FYI, we used to log solid, 3 ft+ American basswood in NE Maine back in the late '60's/early '70's. With the long, bitterly cold winters and low annual perception, I would assume that growth was relatively slow for a fast growing species (the growth rings were too inconspicuous to count).   But I agree that basswood, a very soft and light wood, more often hollows. Randy Re: Basswood longevity   abi-@u.washington.edu   Mar 26, 2004 05:14 PST  Adam, Bob, Lee, I think you will find that those 15-foot diameter, centuries-old trees in Germany and Poland are not single-stemmed individuals that have survived for that long. Both T. platyphyllos and T. cordata can sprout from the roots or root collar. Niether species is decay-resistant. These giant hulks that are so famous are rotten, resprouting organisms. There is so much rot, regrowth, fusions, etc., that it is difficult to tell the history. This make it more mysterious, more romantic. This in turn leads to exaggeration and mythology. Cheers, - BVP Re: Basswood longevity   Lee E. Frelich   Mar 26, 2004 05:45 PST  Randy: It sounds like you found a special variety of basswood in Maine. Hopefully some of them are still there. Your experience with basswoods shows why it is important to have some old growth stands set aside throughout the range of each species. You never know what local adaptations you will find. Slow growing individuals (or many species) are often more decay resistant than fast growing ones. I wonder if we could find some basswoods like the ones you describe somewhere in northern MN, which would be even colder than Maine. Lee RE: Basswood longevity   Robert Leverett   Mar 26, 2004 07:12 PST  Lee and Randy: The idea of local adaptations has always interested me. I'm especially curious about the degree to which small local genetic adaptations explain the growth characteristics that we find on our best tall tree sites and how much of the extra height of the trees on the best sites can be attributed to the adaptations. At least for white ash, I'm inclined to believe that that local adaptations on the eastern side of the Hoosac Mountain massif attributes a 10% - 15% difference to the maximums there relative to the maximums 20 miles farther east. Interestingly for the region of Massachusetts for which we have large amounts of data, the same percentage range seems to apply to white pine. My initial thoughts are that the difference may be a measure of the degradation of the growing stock for one region relative to the other. That's simplistic, I'm sure, but it may not be too far fetched. Bob    RE: Basswood longevity   Dee & Neil Pederson   Mar 27, 2004 06:25 PST  Bob, The oldest white spruce have been found at treeline. There is something to be said about local adaptation. Ed Schulman wrote about this in Science magazine in the 1950s about the longevity of bristlecone pine. He thought that the stressful growth conditions helped extend longevity. Tree-ring researches have not studied basswood too much for the reasons discussed by Lee. They are often too hollow. Maybe there is a northern range margin site in MN, ME etc. that could inform us of its longevity. Neil   Home