American Beech Tree - Fagus grandifolia

American Beech Tree - Fagus grandifolia
Fagaceae - Beech Family / Range: Ontaria to New Brunswick south to FL & TX / USDA Hardiness Zone: 3
Fagus is Latin for beech. Grandifolia comes from the Latin "large leaves."

This American Beech is 37 years old.

Deciduous tree, to 70 feet tall, short trunk, spreading. Thin, smooth blue-gray bark. Leaves simple, alternate, 5-13 cm long, acuminate apex (pointed), parallel veins, 9-14 pairs (F. sylvatica has 5-9 pairs), each ending in a small tooth, glossy dark green above. Petiole 5 mm long or longer, smooth. Buds large (2-2.5 cm long), pointed. Fruit is a three-winged nut (edible), enclosed by a prickly covering (involucre), 2 cm long. Fruit smaller and leaves have more veins (9-14 pairs vs. 5-9 pairs) than F. sylvatica.

Best in full sun, but will withstand part shade. Robust in well-drained, moist acid soil; will not stand compaction. It is difficult to grow turf under it because of its shallow root system.

Hardy to USDA Zone 3 Native range from New Brunswick to Ontario, south to Florida and Texas.

grandifolia: from the Latin grandis, large, and folium, leaf.

Buds shiny and olive green, becoming brown to silver gray. Leaves alternate, short-stalked, shiny dark green to bluish green above, yellowish green beneath, 7 - 12 cm long, 3 - 6 cm wide, oblong to egg-shaped with a short-pointed tip, coarsely toothed, with nine to fourteen vein pairs. Leaves turn yellow to bronze in fall, often persisting into winter. Flowers either male or female, found on the same tree (monoecious).

Male flowers hang from long stalks in yellowish green spherical heads 2 cm wide. Female flowers in spikes of two to four or near base of a male flower head. Fruit consisting of one or two edible nuts enclosed in a four-parted husk. The husk is covered by recurved prickles, splits to release nuts, and persists on the stem. Nuts reddish brown, 1 - 2 cm long, three-winged.

American Beech Leaves
Leaves detail

Beechnut husks persist on stem well into next season.

Beech Bark is often referred to as "elephant skin"

Flowering: Late April to late May. This species is most commonly located in the eastern counties of the Chicago Region and often inhabits ravines, old dunes, and mesic sites. Regional occurrence: Native. The smooth bark of F. grandifolia is often damaged by the carving of initials or designs into the trunk, which provides entry wounds for pests and pathogens and can harm the vascular system. The passenger pigeon, now extinct, used to feed on the fallen nuts. Today, many other species such as bluejays, squirrels, titmice, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and grosbeaks use the nuts as a food source.
--UDSA Forest Service Silvics Manual