CROATIAN FLORA, Gubec Linden Tree in Gornja Stubica

The large-leaved linden (Tilia platyphyllos Scop.), from the mallow family (Malvaceae), is a deciduous tree with a branched crown that can reach heights of up to 40 meters. Its bark is grey-brown, remaining smooth for a long time before becoming longitudinally furrowed and later cracked into transverse plates. The root system is deep and well-branched. The leaves are broadly heart-shaped with a short pointed tip and serrated margins, measuring 8 to 12 cm. The upper leaf surface is green, while the underside is lighter in color, slightly hairy along the veins, with white tufts of hairs in the vein axils. The large-leaved linden has yellowish-white, bisexual, highly fragrant flowers arranged in cymes of two to three flowers. It flowers in June, and after pollination, the flowers develop into round to oval nut-like fruits covered with dense grey hairs. The large-leaved linden is monoecious (bearing both male and female flowers on the same plant) and entomophilous (adapted to insect pollination). It is a fast-growing species that can live up to 800 years. Its natural range includes Europe, western Asia, Crimea and the Caucasus. The Gubec Linden Tree in Gornja Stubica has been protected as a natural monument – a rare specimen of its kind – since 1957. It is 9 meters tall, with a trunk circumference of 4.90 meters and a diameter at breast height of 1.57 meters. A living witness to the Peasant Revolt of 1573, it is traditionally believed to be the place where Matija Gubec gathered the rebels and began the struggle for peasant rights. The height of the tree was reduced from its original 30 meters to the present 9 meters due to a devastating storm in 1945. A lightning strike at that time created a cavity in the center of the trunk, while strong winds reshaped the crown into its present form. The tree’s current age is estimated to be over 450 years. To ensure the preservation of this historic symbol, a project aimed at conserving its gene pool was launched. Thanks to joint efforts by civil society and experts, approximately 60 young saplings were produced by cloning the Gubec Linden Tree. Mirela Uzelac Božac, mag. oecol. Assistant at the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, Poreč