Linden Flower

LINDEN FLOWER (Flos Tiliae) (FLOWERS), flowers of the small-leaved or winter linden, Tilia ulmifolia Scopoli (T. parvifolia Ehrhardt), which is a tree 20-30 m in height, growing in most of Europe and northern Asia, and of the large-leaved or summer linden, Tilia platyphyllos Scopoli (T. grandifolia Ehrhardt). The inflorescences of the winter linden contain up to 15 flowers, while those of the summer linden contain only 3-5, but of larger size. The constituent parts of L. flower are: essential oil in the amount of about 0.04% (which includes the sesquiterpene alcohol-farnesol C15H26OH), mucus, wax, sugar, and tannin. Linden flower is prescribed as a diaphoretic in the form of an infusion 1:10-20; the infusion has a mucilaginous-sweet, aromatic taste; it is taken hot. This latter circumstance is apparently what should be attributed to the diaphoretic property of L. flower.