Leaves ovate, oblique and truncate or cordate at base, abruptly long-pointed at apex, coarsely dentate with broad apiculate glandular teeth pointing forward, and coated below with a rusty or pale easily detached pubescence of fascicled hairs, coated when they unfold with hoary tomentum, soon glabrous on the upper surface, and at maturity dark yellow-green and lustrous above, 2¾′—4½′ long and 2½′—5′ wide; petioles stout, glabrous, 1′—1½′ in length. Flowers opening the middle of June, ¼′ long, on slender pubescent pedicels, in small stout-branched pubescent mostly 8—15-flowered cymes; peduncle slender, pubescent, the free portion ¾′—1¼′ long, its bract oblong-obovate, cuneate at base, rounded or acute at apex, nearly glabrous on the upper surface when it first appears, pubescent becoming glabrous or almost glabrous below, 4′—5′ long and ⅘′ wide, longer or shorter than and decurrent to the base or nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals ovate, acuminate, ciliate on the margins, brown and covered with pale pubescence on the outer surface, coated on the inner surface with long white hairs; petals lanceolate, acuminate, a third longer than the sepals; staminodia oblong-obovate, rounded at apex, rather shorter than the petals; style tomentose at base or glabrous. Fruit subglobose, ellipsoid or obovoid, ⅛′ in diameter.
A large tree with slender red-brown glabrous or slightly pubescent branchlets. Winter-buds ovoid, acute, glabrous or rarely pubescent, about ¼′ long.
Distribution. Coast of North Carolina (Wrightsville Beach and the neighborhood of Wilmington, New Hanover County), southward in the immediate neighborhood of the coast to Liberty County, Georgia; western Louisiana to southern Arkansas (Hempstead and Clark Counties) common, and through eastern Texas to the Edwards Plateau (near Boerne, Kendall County); in Orizaba. Passing into
Tilia caroliniana var. rhoophila Sarg.
Differing from the type in its pubescent branchlets and winter-buds, its usually larger leaves, and in its tomentose corymbs of more numerous flowers. Leaves broad-ovate, abruptly short-pointed and acuminate at apex, oblique and truncate or cordate at base, coarsely serrate with broad apiculate teeth pointing forward, dark green and lustrous on the upper surface, pale and thickly covered on the lower surface with persistent white or brownish pubescence, 4′—5′ long and 2½′—5′ wide, with a slender midrib and primary veins pubescent on the lower side, and small conspicuous axillary tufts of pale hairs; petioles stout, thickly coated with pubescence, 1′—1¾′ in length; leaves on vigorous shoots often 6′ long, and 5½′ wide, and occasionally 10′ long and 9′ wide. Flowers ¼′ long, on short hoary-tomentose pedicels, in wide thin-branched pubescent many-flowered (sometimes 50) cymes; peduncle thickly covered with fascicled hairs, the free portion ¼′ long, its bract oblong, unequally rounded at base, rounded at apex, glabrous on the upper surface, pubescent on the lower surface, 4′—6′ long, 1′—2′ wide, usually shorter than and decurrent nearly to the base of the peduncle; sepals acuminate, coated on the outer surface with pale or slightly rusty pubescence, villose and furnished at base on the inner surface with tufts of long hairs; petals lanceolate, acuminate and ciliate at apex, about a third longer than the sepals; staminodia spatulate, acute, about half the length of the petals; style coated at base with long white hairs. Fruit subglobose, covered with rusty tomentum, about ⅓′ in diameter.
A tree with slender branchlets thickly coated during their first year with pale pubescence, dark red-brown or gray and puberulous during their second season. Winter-buds covered with pale pubescence.
Distribution. Western Louisiana (Calcasieu and Jefferson Davis Parishes) to Hempstead County, Arkansas, and through eastern Texas to the valley of the upper Guadalupe River, Kerr County.