Fagus grandifolia
| Fagus grandifolia subsp. var. | American Beech | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Fagus grandifolia also known as American Beech is a species of beech native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States. Trees in the southern half of the range are sometimes distinguished as a variety, F. grandifolia var. caroliniana, but this is not considered distinct in the Flora of North America. A related beech native to the mountains of central Mexico is sometimes treated as a subspecies of American Beech, but more often as a distinct species, Mexican Beech Fagus mexicana.
It is a deciduous tree growing to 20 - 35 m tall, with smooth, silver-gray bark. The leaves are dark green, simple and sparsely-toothed with small teeth, 6 - 12 cm long (rarely 15 cm ), with a short petiole. The winter twigs are distinctive among North American trees, being long and slender (15 - 20 mm by 2 - 3 mm) with two rows of overlapping scales on the buds. The tree is monoecious, with flowers of both sexes on the same tree. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in pairs in a soft-spined, four-lobed husk.
The American Beech is a shade-tolerant species, favoring shade more than other trees, commonly found in forests in the final stage of succession. Although sometimes found in pure stands, it is more often associated with Sugar Maple (forming the Beech-Maple climax community), Yellow Birch, and Eastern Hemlock, typically on moist well drained slopes and rich bottomlands. Near its southern limit, it often shares canopy dominance with Southern Magnolia.
| Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |
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Fagus grandifolia, Ehrh. (F. ferruginea, Ait. F. americana, Sweet. F. atropunicca, Sudw.). American Beech. Tree, to 80 ft., rarely 120 ft.: lvs. ovate-oblong, acuminate, coarsely serrate, silky beneath when young, with 9-14 pairs of veins, dark bluish green above, light yellowish green beneath, 2 1/2-5 in. long: involucre covered with slender, straight or recurved prickles, 3/4in. high. E. N. Amer., west to Wis. and Texas. Var. pubescens, Fern. & Rehd. Lvs. soft-pubescent below, sometimes only slightly so. Var. caroliniana Fern. Rehd. (F. ferruginea var. caroliniana, Loud. F. ro-tundifdlia, Raf.). lvs. broader, of firmer texture, darker above: involucre rufous-tomentose, with fewer and shorter prickles: nut smaller, not exceeding the involucre. From N. J. and S. Ill. to Fla. and Texas. CH
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Cultivation
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Propagation
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Pests and diseases
Beech Bark Disease has become a major killer of Beeches in the Northeastern United States.
Species
Gallery
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American Beech, Fagus grandifolia, Gadsden Co., Florida
American Beech forest at Hoot Woods, Indiana; note fall color and silvery trunks
American Beech trunk
American Beech in winter, Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Quebec
American Beech sometimes keep its leaves in winter, Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Quebec
References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Fagus grandifolia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Fagus grandifolia QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)
