Do you ever feel like your heart is heavy, you’re on edge, and you just need a hug but there’s no one around to give you one? Linden is my best friend in those times. Linden is soothing and grounding, like drinking a hug in a mug. Not only is linden my best friend when I’m feeling sad but in lots of other circumstances, too. In this linden monograph, we’re going to talk about it all.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational purposes only and shouldn’t be used as a replacement for medical attention or diagnosis. It’s recommended to talk to a doctor before beginning any herbal regimen, especially if you are taking pharmaceutical medication. Because every body is different, the following information may or may not apply directly to you.
Linden (Tilia americana & cordata)
Lindens are a genus of trees in the Malvaceae family, along with mallows, hibiscus, okra, cotton, etc. If you’ve ever seen a linden tree in bloom, then I’m sure you’ve also seen how wild bees and other pollinators get about it. Plus, it provides so much beauty and plentiful shade in the summer.
In this article, we are going to go over the linden monograph in-depth, covering all of its herbal properties. We are going to talk about where to source linden and which herbs to pair it with. We’re also going to talk about how we work with linden in practice as well as how to best prepare the herb. And finally, you’ll have the opportunity to download this linden monograph for free so you can take it with you wherever you go.
Linden Monograph
In this linden monograph, we are going to discuss all of the ways linden can be our health ally. We are going to discuss energetics, tastes, plant parts used, herbal actions, body affinities, constituents, and cautions when working with this plant.
Energetics & Tastes
Linden is cooling, moistening, relaxing, and sedating. It has a light, floral aroma and flavor that’s sweet and mineral-rich.
Medicinal Plant Parts
In modern herbalism, we primarily work with the leaves and flowers of this plant. The bark of linden can also be worked with as a laxative, although it’s a lot less common than it used to be to work with linden this way.
Although linden berries also carry lots of medicine, it’s uncommon to work with them (I think this should change!). I love making linden berries into a chocolate replacement!
Herbal Actions
When consumed, how does linden behave in the body? In what ways does it induce change?
Demulcent
Linden has high mucilage content, which means it has a demulcent action. When brewed in cool water, the linden will make the tea thick and viscous. This demulcent effect is what gives linden its hydrating and soothing properties.
Nervine
Linden brings its soothing effects to the nerves, cooling and hydrating them. This, in turn, help reduce nerve pain, nervous tension, and irritation.
Anti-inflammatory
Linden’s soothing properties help to cool down access inflammation in the body, particularly in the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Sedative
Because of its direct sooting action on the nerves, this herb helps to induce the parasympathetic nervous system, aka the “rest and digest” state. However, the sedative effects aren’t so strong you have to worry about driving while drinking linden tea.
Hypotensive
Just like how linden brings its soothing effects to the nerves, it also brings its soothing effects to the heart and blood vessels. This soothing effect reduces inflammation in this system and, therefore, reduces high blood pressure.
Anodyne
Linden helps soothe heat and tension throughout so much of the body. Therefore, it can help reduce pain related to tension, including tension headaches.
Diaphoretic
Linden has a relaxing diaphoretic effect. This means that it helps to reduce tension in the core which, in turn, releases trapped heat allowing it to move to the periphery to be expelled. This effect helps cool down those with tense and hot conditions.
Body Affinities
Now we know how linden behaves in the body, do you have any guesses for which body systems linden likes the most?
The Nervous System
Linden loves the nervous system. When we work with linden, it brings its soothing, cooling, hydrating, nourishing, and anti-inflammatory actions right to our nerves. This cools and relaxes the nervous system and soothes all sorts of tense and hot nervous system conditions.
The Cardiovascular System
Just like how linden behaves in the nervous system, it also behaves in the cardiovascular system. Those same actions that cool, nourish, and soothe the nervous system will happen in the cardiovascular system, too. That means linden can help aid all tense and hot conditions in this system.
Notable Constituents
- volatiles (.02 – .1%)
- flavonoids (quercitin, kaempferol)
- caffeic acid
- mucilage (3%)
- tannins
Cautions When Working with Linden
The parts of linden most commonly used today–the leaves and flowers–are perfectly safe for everyone, including children, pregnant people, the sick, elders, and those on a variety of medications (although, it’s always best to check with your doctor before working with any herb medicinally if you’re on medication).
However, the bark–which is less commonly used today–shouldn’t be worked with if you are on blood thinners.
Sourcing Linden
As always, I suggest either growing your own or finding linden trees growing near where you live. Getting to work with the actual plant while it’s living is a really important part of herbal medicine. Plus, not all places that sell linden will have all of the plant parts you’re looking for. So, if you can, I recommend finding a couple of trees to plant in your yard or finding a plant that’s growing in your local park (they’re pretty common!).
If that’s not an option, I suggest finding a local herb farm that grows linden trees and buying it right from them. Buying local linden is the best way to ensure high quality.
Of course, there is also Mountain Rose Herbs if you need to buy your linden online. Mountain Rose Herbs has the highest quality herb in my experience and they have lots of systems in place to ensure their linden is grown and harvested sustainably.
Linden Herbal Pairings
Linden’s floral palate pairs well with lots of other herbs. Not only do these pairings taste great together, but many work together to emphasize or round out their herbal actions. Here are my favorite herbs to pair with linden:
Linden in Practice
So we know how linden behaves in the body, so what kind of health issues do we reach for linden for help with?
Hypertension, Palpitations, & Other Tension-Related Cardiovascular Issues
Because linden is a blood pressure modulator, it is safe and effective for those with both high blood pressure as well as low blood pressure. Linden can help aid those with hypertension, palpitations, arrhythmia, angina, and any form of tightness in the chest. It is particularly beneficial for those with a history of heart attacks, stroke, or cardiovascular surgery.
Abandonment Trauma & Grief
Linden works on the physical, mental, and emotional bodies in similar ways. Its soothing effects aid hot, tense conditions both physically as well as emotionally. Linden has a way of making you deeply and viscerally believe that you’re safe and that everything will be ok, including when in the throws of grief.
Linden is particularly indicated for anxiety, nervous tension, insomnia, and agitation. All nervous system issues that are hot, dry, and irritated can benefit from working with linden. It can also help counteract the drying and stimulating side effects of medications like Adderall and Ritalin.
Fibromyalgia, MS & Other Forms of Nerve Pain
Ever feel like your nerves are “fried”? Like your nerves are buzzy and you feel sensitive or on edge? That is the perfect time to reach out to linden for help. In these situations, your nerves are literally dry and irritated, like how your skin feels when it gets really dry. Because of linden’s soothing and moistening properties as well as its affinity for nervous tissue, it can help nourish those fried nerves.
This is true when dealing with chronic nerve pain, too, like fibromyalgia and multiple sclerosis. In circumstances of chronic nerve pain, it usually is partly caused by that nervous tissue not getting the nutrition it needs. Linden delivers soothing nourishment to those tender nerves to cool them down and cares for them. This also applies to other forms of nerve pain, including nerve pain from injury, tension headaches, intestinal pain from food allergies, and menstrual cramps.
Ways to Work with Linden
Now we know how linden can aid us through some health issues, let’s get into how to actually consume it.
Linden Tea
When working with linden for its medicinal properties, tea is the best mode of consumption. There are a few different ways to work with linden in tea and each emphasizes different aspects of linden’s herbal actions.
The first way to make linden tea is in a hot, short infusion. Short infusions emphasize the relaxing and sedative actions in both the nervous and cardiovascular systems. By making linden tea in this way, you won’t get as many of the moistening and hydrating actions of the herb. Just be sure to keep a lid on the tea while it’s steeping so it retains all of its volatile content!
Next, you can make cold infusions from linden. By making linden tea this way, you get the opposite results: you emphasize the moistening properties and deemphasize the relaxing ones.
Lastly, You can make long infusions. This is the best way to extract all of the constituents from this herb and get all of its herbal actions. In linden long infusions, you get the benefits of the hot infusion as well as the cold infusion once the tea has cooled. I like adding linden to long-infusion blends with lots of drying herbs to counteract the drying qualities.
Linden Infused Honey & Wine
Herbalism only works when we actually consume the herbs–and what better way to get excited about herbalism than by making the herbs taste amazing? (More so than they already do!) Linden’s light, floral flavor already tastes so sweet and soothing in our tea, but it’s an especially wonderful treat to infuse it into honey and wine.
To make linden-infused honey, just harvest the fresh flowers and leaves (I like sticking with just the flowers when making honey), put them in a jar, cover them in honey, and let them infuse for about a month. The honey will likely never go bad so you can keep it around for years!
When making linden-infused wine, I like to stick to white wine. The lightness of the white wine captures the floral essence of the linden better than red. Stick some dry linen leaves and flowers in the wine, let it infuse for a few days to a couple of weeks, and then you have a fancy, floral, soothing wine ready for your next self-care day.
Linden Berry “Chocolate”
Chocolate can be herbalism! And linden makes a wonderful chocolate alternative! To make linden “chocolate,” all you have to do is harvest the green linden berries, toast them in the oven at about 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then grind them into a powder. and boom! Linden “cocoa” powder! Then just use it as a replacement for cocoa powder in your favorite chocolate recipes.
More Herbal Monographs
Want to learn about more herbs? In my online Materia Medica, you will find all of the herbs I have written about. Here, you can click on any herb you want to learn about and you’ll get a thorough herbal monograph that’s always being updated, just like this one. Plus, you can download the free monograph for every herb! Learn more here.
Download the Free Linden Monograph
The Best Herbalism Books
There are hundreds of herbalism books available on the market. A quick Google search can be really overwhelming! Especially when the top search results from Amazon and Goodreads seem to be unreliable.
In this article, I’ve gathered all of my favorite herbalism titles in one place to share with you. If you don’t know where to start, that’s ok! The books are organized by type and I’ve written descriptions to let you know which I suggest in which situations. Plus, all of the books here are trustworthy, so you can follow your curiosity and pick which books stand out to you!
Summary: Linden Monograph
Linden is always there for me when I need it. It’s there to ground me when I’m anxious, soothe me when I’m irritated, and comfort me when I’m sad. Now that you know about this amazing plant, it can be there for you, too.
In this linden monograph, we went over this medicinal herb in detail. We talked about the energetics, herbal actions, body affinities, constituents, and cautions when working with this herb. We went over where to get linden, some herbal friends, some conditions that are indicated for linden, and how to work with it in practice. Plus you got to download the free linden monograph to take with you.
What are your favorite ways to work with linden? In what ways are you excited to work with this plant? As for me, I’m really looking forward to growing my own linden trees! Let me know our thoughts in the comments, I would love to hear from you!
Sunlight and taproots
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