Beech
Fagus sylvatica
Beech family (Fagaceae)
Origin: W. & C. Europe
Description: Up to 40m high with a broad, domed crown. Bark smooth, pale grey. Buds up to 2cm long, cigar-shaped, pointed and pale brown. Leaves alternate up to 9cm, ovate to elliptical, margins wavy but not toothed, the margins, veins on the lower surface and petiole silky hairy. Flowers lacking petals, greenish, males with 4 to 7 sepal-like lobes and borne in long-stalked drooping, tassel-like heads; females in pairs surrounded by a 4-lobed, spiny husk. Fruit: up to 2cm long, containing 2 triangular, brown nuts in a spiny husk.
Leaves have wavy margins.
Male flower heads are tassel-like.
A cluster of female flowers.
Comments: A tree characteristic of soils over chalk or limestone. Beech woods have a ground flora adapted to flourish among the deep litter of dry, fallen leaves.
Young beeches retain the dead leaves through winter and as a result are often used as hedging plants.
