The Southern Urals mark the eastern boundary of the continuous distribution of the small-leaved linden (Tilia cordata Mill.), a coenotically and economically important species. To better understand the adaptive properties of the species, it is important to study their populations at the margins of their ranges. Therefore, during a reconnaissance survey of the phytocenoses of Malinovaya Pervaya Mountain in the Beloretsky District of Bashkortostan, the habitats of nine T. cordata Mill. specimens were described and their crown structure analyzed. It was established that T. cordata trees grow in a gap within the birch-pine forest on a western-facing slope, in a mixed forest near the mountain’s summit, and in a pine forest on a southeastern-facing slope. Immature, virginile, young, and middle-aged generative specimens of single-stemmed, multi-stemmed, and coppice-forming life forms were identified. The crown of these specimens is formed by an orthotropic or diagonally upward-growing trunk, along which the branching angle becomes more acute in the acropetal direction. In a young generative specimen growing in a gap, the crown is best differentiated into three altitudinal zones that contain drooping, plagiotropic, and ascending branches respectively. All young and middle-aged generative specimens have one or two or three additional trunks emerging from buds in the lower part of the trunk, the height of which can reach 60% of the total height of the specimen.

Keywords: biomorphology, branches, crown, habitat, life form, mountain forests, ontogenetic stage, small-leaved linden, trunk