At the mention of linden, many of us have an image of a well-kept linden alley with sprawling old trees. Indeed, this tree lives for a very long time: on average up to 300–400 years, and individual individuals live up to 1,200 years. Throughout its life, the linden not only pleases the eye with its unusual beauty, but also serves as a source of medicinal raw materials, used in folk medicine since ancient times. Linden grows in forests, gardens, city boulevards and parks. Cultivated as a decorative and landscaping plant. The most common species in the European part of the country — small-leaved linden. The linden tree is especially beautiful in summer, during flowering, when the tree is covered from top to bottom with fragrant, yellowish flowers with a delicate aroma, collected in semi-umbrellas, with bracts as large as a dragonfly's wing. Among forest trees, linden stands out with its thick crown. It is characterized by a powerful trunk that reaches 2-3, and sometimes even 5 meters in diameter. Linden blooms in natural conditions in the 20th year of life, and in plantations — only after 30 years. Blooms almost every year and very abundantly in June and July. Flowering lasts 10-15 days. At the time when the linden tree blooms, a strangely thin, delicate, sweet aroma wafts through the air, which can be felt far beyond the borders of the linden gardens and parks. Small-leaved linden — medicinal, honey-bearing, food and technical plant. In scientific medicine, only linden flowers are used as medicinal raw materials — linden blossom, and in folk — almost all parts of the plant. On an industrial scale, harvesting of medicinal raw materials is usually carried out during the felling of linden forests, when the tree reaches 90 years of age. At this time, you can get the maximum amount of raw materials from the tree.
