ASPEN 105 
wheat is parasitic on its roots. Other fungi infesting beech are Nectvza, 
Spherulina, Rosellinia, Dichena, Bulgaria, A rmillaria, Lenzites, Panus, 
Psilocybe, Hypholoma, Pholiota, Collybia, Fomes, Polyporus, Frstulina, 
Hydnum, and it is galled by Monochetus, Hormomyia, Cecidomyra. 
The insect pests are, amongst many others: Lwucanus cervvis, 
Sinodendron cylindricum, Dorcus parallelipipedus, Melolontha vulgaris, 
Agrilus viridis, Orchestes fag, Rhopalomesites lardyt, Cryphalus fag, 
Cryptococcus fagi, Phyllaphis fagi, &c., Stauropus fagt, Limacodes 
testudo, Nola strigula, Aglaia tau, Dicycla oo, &c. 
Fagus, Pliny, is the Latin for beech, and is cognate with the word 
beech. The second Latin name indicates its woodland habitat. 
This tree is called Beech, Buck, Buck’s-mast, Hay Beech, Mast. 
Buck-mast was so called because ‘‘deere delight to feed thereon”. 
“In Hants,” a writer says, ‘the fruit of the beech tree is called Mast 
or Beech Mast, and when hogs are turned out into the woods in 
autumn to feed on it they are said to be turned out to mast.” The 
tree was superstitiously regarded as proof against lightning. 
The wood is used by turners, joiners, millwrights. The thin bark 
has been used for basket-work and band-boxes, and for straw for 
palliasses. Pigs and deer are fond of the mast, which served as an 
article of food in ancient times. The wood is durable under water, but 
liable to be affected by extremes of temperature, and to be attacked by 
beetles. An oil is contained in the mast, which is expressed as a sort 
of olive oil, and also sugar and starch. 
Beech wood is used abroad for charcoal, and for sabots and planks, 
after soaking in water and smoking. 
EssENTIAL SpEcIFIC CHARACTERS :— 
283. Fagus sylvatica, L.—Tree, tall, smooth bark, leaves ovate, 
ciliate at the margin, glabrous, serrate, silky in bud, male flowers in 
crowded catkins, pendent, females 1-3, fruit triquetrous. 
Aspen (Populus tremula, L.) 
Traces of the Aspen have been discovered in Calcareous Tufa of 
Neolithic age in Flints. It is found in the Arctic and N. Temperate 
Zones in Arctic Europe, N. Africa, and N. Asia. In Great Britain it 
is not found in S. Hants, E. Kent, Monmouth, Cardigan, Lincs, Mid 
Lanes, Haddington, Linlithgow, Caithness, but elsewhere as far north 
as the Orkneys, and is probably indigenous, but often planted. In 
Yorks it is found at 1600 ft. It is a native of Ireland and the Channel 
Islands. 
