The Linden/Lime


Latin name: Tilia cordata

I used to live further south, near Stockholm, before moving back up here. One of the few things I miss is the linden trees around the apartment building. In late June, their intoxicating scent would not only reach us on the seventh floor, but fill the whole apartment with sweetness and happiness.

So, one of my projects here at the home of Tunrida is to plant a linden at an appropriate spot close to the main building so I can enjoy the aroma again. The linden flowers will also be a good addition to the teas I make from things that grow around here. Least but not last, when it grows larger, any dropped branches or twigs will be most welcome in my craft.

The Linden and its Uses

The light and white wood is well suited for carving. It was even called lignum sacrum, sacred wood, during the middle ages since almost all figurines of saints, angels and so on, was made from linden wood. If you needed a wooden leg, it would most probably be made from linden because of the stability of the wood.

The inner bark from linden has been made into baskets, carpets, sacks, rope and it can still be bought in gardening stores for binding flowers and other plants.

The Linden in Contemporary Herbal Medicine

It is mostly the linden flowers that are used in herbal medicine. Tea made of them is used as a sudorific and to help the body fight colds.

The tea is also soothing and calming, making it perfect for night time tea.

The buds contains a mucous substance that protects from, and inhibits inflammation.

The Linden in Folk Medicine

Linden bark put in water gave a mucous emission that was used on burns. If you boiled the thin layer between the bark and the wood along with cream, you got a poultice that would sooth aching joints.

A method for healing that could also be classified as magic, was to measure a joint in all directions with linden bast while saying "I will measure my pain away with scissors and awl and red and linden bark!". After saying this, you should count backwards from 20 to 1.

The Linden in Folk Magic

As so many others of our most loved trees, the linden is seen as a tree of protection. If you stood beneath a linden, lighning could not hit you. If you adorned your house and stables with branches and leaves, witches couldn't harm you, and if you tied the leaves to the horns on cattle at midsummer, they would be protected from sorcery.

Ashes from linden firewood was spinkled on the fields to scare away caterpillars and pests.

Deities and Creatures Associated With the Linden

Freja and the elves are associated with the sweetly smelling linden, a scent that can be almost intoxicating a warm summers night, stirring emotions of both romantic and erotic nature.

In Greece, the Linden is associated with Aphrodite and both there and here in the North, women sacrificed to the Linden and the associated goddess for fertility. The Lindorm (Linden-Wyrm) lives in the crown of old lindens. He is so large that streams of water could be dug out by him, and so strong that he snaps great old trees like thin branches.

Sources

Schön, E, Älvor, troll och talande träd. Semic, Sundbyberg 2000
Tillhagen, C-H, Skogarna och Träden. Carlssons, Stockholm 1995
www.naturcentrum.se/jattetrad
www.Wikipedia.org