American Beech

Classsification:
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae (beech family)
Genus species: Fagus grandifolia Ehrenb.

Leaves:
Thin and papery texture; smooth above and below
6 to 13 cm long, 2.5 to 7.5 cm wide
Elliptical or ovate and long-pointed at the tip
Each principal vein ends in a tooth at the leaf's margin
Dark blue-green on top and light green beneath
Turn yellow and brown in fall

Bark:
Light gray; smooth and thin

Flowers:
Separate male and female flowers but on same tree
Male flowers small and yellowish with many stamens crowded in a ball 2 to 2.5 cm in diameter; hanging on slender hairy stalk to 5 cm.
Female flowers about 6 mm long and bordered by narrow, hairy, reddish scales; two at end of short stalk.

Fruit:
12 to 20 mm long
Light brown prickly burs; each bur contains four nuts
Nuts are sweet, edible

Twigs:
Light gray, slender
Terminal bud is long, thin, pointed with many scales

Habitat:
Moist soils of uplands and well-drained lowlands

Range:
Southern Ontario east to Cape Breton Island, south to northern Florida, west to Texas and north to northern Michigan.

Common Uses and Interesting Facts

The American Beech was readily recognized by the colonists who were already familiar with the closely related European Beech.

The beech tree is a beautiful shade tree that bears edible beechnuts, which are consumed in quantities by wildlife, especially squirrels, raccoons, bears, and other mammals.

The trunks are favorites for carving and preserve initials and dates indefinitely.

They can reproduce entirely new trees from their roots—they are clonal.

Sources

written by Nate Martin; edited by Bryan Helm, Vanessa Artman

Photo credits: Vanessa Artman; www.hainaultforest.co.uk/5Beech.htm

Benvie, S. 2000. The encyclopedia of North American Trees. Firefly Books. Buffalo, NY.

Jackson, M.T. 2004. 101 trees of Indiana. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, IN.

Little, E.L. 1998. National Audubon Society field guide to North American trees, eastern region. Knopf Publishers, New York. 714 pages.


Beech leaves are thin, smooth, and papery.


Beech trees are distinctive in autumn. Their bark is light gray
and smooth. Their papery leaves turn a light golden-brown.


The nuts, which ripen in fall, are borne
in small spine-covered woody husks.