31 Beech Tree Facts: Learn More About This Deciduous Plant

Beech trees or beech woods are ornamental tree species native to Europe, North America, Asia, and most of the natural world.

Beech trees, and the American beech tree, in particular, are known for their smooth bark and dark green leaves. The American beech, unlike most other hardwood trees, keeps its smooth bark all throughout its 'mature' years.

Beech trees are popular residential shade trees because of their thin but dense foliage crowns, and their wood provides great lumber and firewood. Beech trees may grow in a variety of environments as long as the soil drains adequately. Their leaves are generally green and have serrated edges. Some cultivars feature variegated, yellow, or purple leaves, and some are even edible. The tree is known to have a short trunk and its bark is light gray in color and is extremely prone to damage from sharp objects. Beech trees are long-lived trees that can survive for 200-300 years. Squirrels, birds, forest mammals, and other native wildlife are known to be extremely fond of this tree and often use its resources for their sustenance and for shade.

Facts About Beech Trees

Beech (Fagus) is a deciduous tree genus native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America, belonging to the Fagaceae family.

• Engleriana and Fagus are two different subgenera recognized by recent classifications.
• The low branches of this Engleriana subgenus, which are sometimes made up of many main stems with yellowish bark, separate it from the rest of the Engleriana subgenus.
• High-branching beeches of the Fagus subgenus have tall, robust trunks and silky silver-gray bark.
• The most widely farmed beech is the European beech (Fagus sylvatica).
• The European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is by far the most widely farmed, yet there are few significant changes between species aside from minor details like the leaf shape.
• Beech trees have whole or sparingly serrated leaves that are 2-6 in (5–15.4 cm) in length and 2-4 in (5–10 cm) wide.
• Beech trees may grow in a variety of soil types, both acidic and basic, as long as they are not waterlogged.
• The tree canopy provides substantial shade and beech leaves provide a heavy layer of leaf litter on the ground which later decomposes and enriches the soil surrounding the region that the tree is rooted in, further proving to be beneficial for the ecosystem.
• Grylloprociphilus imbricator, the beech blight aphid, is a frequent pest of American beech trees. Beeches are also food plants for some Lepidoptera species.
• The bark of beeches is exceedingly thin and easily scarred. Because the beech tree's delicate bark is so thin, carvings such as lovers' initials and other forms of graffiti can't be removed because the tree can't mend itself.
• The most common places to find American beech are on damp slopes, ravines, and on moist hammocks.
• The tree prefers loamy soils, although it will grow in clay as well.
• The tree may grow at heights of up to 131 ft (40 m) and is commonly found in groves in an established forest.
• When the town of Chios was besieged, the Roman statesman Pliny the Elder wrote in his Natural History that the citizens of Chios ate beechnut.

Beech Tree's Identification

Beech tree leaves have whole or sparsely serrated leaf edges, straight parallel veins, and are carried on short stalks.

• Female flowers bloom in doubles, and the blossoms are little and single-sexed (monoecious).
• Male flowers bloom on globose heads that dangle from a thin stalk in the spring, just before the new leaves emerge.
• Often confused with birch, hophornbeam, and ironwood, American beech has long narrow scaled buds compared to short scaled buds on birch.
• The beech bark is gray and smooth and has no catkins.
• Surrounding old trees are often root suckers, and these mature trees possess human-looking roots.

Uses Of Beech Wood

Beech wood is great firewood since it's easy to split and burns for a long time producing brilliant but tranquil flames. Planks of beech wood are strewn along the bottom of Budweiser beer fermentation tanks after being cleaned in caustic soda to remove any flavor or scent characteristics. This creates a complex surface for the yeast to settle on so that it does not build up, reducing yeast autolysis and off-flavors in the beer.

• The European plant Fagus sylvatica produces a durable but dimensionally unstable utility timber.
• It is common in furniture framing and carcass manufacturing, flooring and engineering, plywood, and household products like plates, although it's rarely used as decorative wood.
• Beech wood is utilized for piano pin-blocks and drum manufacturing.
• It is also used for making houses, chalets, and log cabins.
• Beech wood makes good fuel as well, as it is easy to split and burns for long periods of time with brilliant but tranquil flames.
• Slats of cleaned beech wood are put over the bottom of Budweiser (Anheuser-Busch) beer fermenting tanks.
• To dry the malt used in several German smoked beers, beech logs are torched.
• Westphalian ham, andouille sausage, as well as some cheeses are all smoked with beech.

Beech Tree's Flowers And Nuts

Beeches are monoecious, which means that they produce both female and male flowers on the very same plant. The small blooms are unisexual, with female flowers growing in pairs and wind-pollinating catkins for pollination. They appear immediately after the young leaves emerge in the spring.

• The fruits of the beech tree, called beechnuts or mast, are found in the form of little burrs that fall off the tree in the autumn.
• They have a bitter, astringent, or gentle and nut-like flavor and are small, roughly triangular, and edible.
• Beech nuts are edible, however bitter and heavy in tannin, and are known as beech mast, which is a popular wildlife meal.
• Bumper harvests of beech nuts are generally available in the South every three to six years, while in the North the interval is only two to four years.
• The long, scaly buds on twigs serve as a valuable identification sign.