Trees as Medicine

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Mid-June is linden tree time. It’s the time when these lovely trees go to flower and blanket the town with their intoxicatingly sweet scent. You can almost always smell that a linden is nearby before actually seeing it with your eyes.

Besides being a super handsome and amazingly scented tree, linden flowers are medicinal and powerfully healing energetically as well. Quite often (and very popular in Europe) folks make linden tea with the dried flowers. I also realllllly love linden infused honey, which I’ll describe how to make below.

But first, here’s a little background on this lovely linden tree.

About Linden

Linden (or Tilia) is a genus of about thirty species of trees native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere.  In the European lands they are commonly called lime trees, although they are not closely related to the tree that produces the lime fruit. In the lands here of North America they’re sometimes called Basswood.

Linden trees are deciduous trees known for their symmetrical shape, their beautiful foliage, and their super fragrant flowers which come into bloom mid-June to July. Throughout history, the linden tree has been prized for its wood which is wonderful for carving, as well as the delicious honey its bountiful nectar produces.

Linden trees are hermaphroditic, meaning their flowers carry both male and female parts that require pollination from insects.  The linden tree is characterized by its abundance of tiny, creamy clusters of flowers and large, asymmetrical, heart-shaped leaves.  Once pollinated, the flowers will develop into oval, slightly ribbed fruits with a pointed tip. The fruits grow in clusters and are fitted with a wing to facilitate their spread.

Linden trees typically have a lifespan of a few hundred years, but there are some lindens across the world that are believed to be more than a thousand years old!

Some very amazing elements of the linden tree

Wood ⋙ Linden trees have soft, easy-to-work wood. Germanic tribes have used linden wood historically for making shields, while in the Middle ages, it was the material of choice for sculpting and marionette carving. It continues to be used today for furniture building, model building and making musical instruments.

Bark ⋙ Once soaked, the bark turns into a strong, durable fiber. Historically, the fibers have been used by the Ainu people of Japan to make clothing. Fibers have also been found during archaeological digs in Britain, suggesting bronze age people utilized it for much the same purpose.

Flowers & Medicine ⋙ When working medicinally with linden, it’s the flowers and the bract that are used. Medicinally, linden flowers can be harvested and dried for use in tea, infused into honey, or made into a tincture.

Linden flowers have a relaxing and restorative effect on the nervous system, and combined with anti-inflammatory and diuretic qualities, make this a good ally for the heart. The relaxation effect and ability to gently promote perspiration also makes linden a popular herb when coping with cold and flu symptoms as well.

Linden is a wonderfully calming herb. It’s great for anxiety and to help ease into restful sleep. It’s a heart tonic and can be used to help ease tachycardia. It’s diaphoretic when taken hot and great for fevers. It’s a wonderful remedy for colds and flu.

Energetics & Magic ⋙  The heart-shaped leaf of the linden tree gives a good idea of what it is good for both emotionally, medically and energetically.   It can lift us up or “gladden the heart” emotionally as well as benefitting the physical heart as well.

Linden flowers can be used in tea blends to support a hurting heart that may be dealing with grief, loss, or healing from heartache. The flowers are also beautiful to use in a bundle or sachet near your bed to relieve insomnia and promote restful sleep.

Pure Enjoyment ⋙ Linden Infused Honey

When the tree is in full bloom, when the flowers are creamy (not yet browned), head out to harvest. You will harvest the flower and the bract (the long flat half-helicopter looking piece connected to the flowers).

I like to save some of my harvest for tea, and these I set out to dry on a rack.

The other part of my harvest is for HONEY!!!

To Make the Honey

1. Fill a jar with your freshly harvested flowers
   

2. Pour fresh honey over the flowers until they are fully covered in honey
   

3. Cover jar and let infuse for 2 weeks
   

4. Stir or agitate the honey every couple of days
   

5. Enjoy!

When the honey is done you can remove the flowers if you wish, however I think that is way more work than it is worth, especially because the flowers are delicious and totally edible. I like to just keep them in there and lather this honey generously on all sorts of goodies! You can also try adding to your favorites teas or taking a spoonful to relieve sore throats and coughs.

Let me know in the comments below how this goes for you and if you have other ways you love to enjoy linden!