The linden

Once upon a time, there were a Russian boy and a girl who fell in love, but lived on opposite sides of the river and so could not marry. They stood on the banks and pined like trees until they did turn into trees--though into lindens, not pines. There they grew until their branches reached one another. But the river undermined their roots, and both fell in and were drowned.

In the Dragostea din tei song, too, the middle verse goes, "Chipul tau si dragostea din tei, Mi-amintesc de ochii tai," which apparently can be translated to "Your face and the love from the linden trees, and I remember your eyes."

I mention these rather obscure legends because, apparently, the linden is associated in eastern Europe with romantic love. This came up because there's a linden in the Tempest, and so I was asking the good doctor about it. I'll keep an eye out, but if anyone can see a glimpse of that particular linden doing anything at all symbolic of romance, I'd love it if you'd explain it to me.