74 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



Native Forest Trees of Rhode Island 



No. XVII, 



BY L. W. RUSSELL. 



The American Beech.— Fagus ferruginea. 

 The beech is indigenous to regions of 

 temperate climate in botli hemisplieres. 

 But one species is native to tlie United States 

 and tliat is not regaided by botanists as 

 specifically distinct from the beech of Europe 

 and western Asia. The beech in Rhode 

 Island is not a common tree, but is scat- 

 tered sparingly in most parts of the state. 

 Here it occurs most frequently along the cool 

 banks of the streams, but is occasionally 

 found elsewhere, usually among deciduous 

 trees. 



The beech, whether in the forest or upon 

 open ground, is a singularly neat, attractive 

 tree. When free to develop itself in open 

 spaces, it limbs low, the lower branches 

 forming a nearly horizontal spread, those 

 higher gradually taking sharper angles un- 

 til the whole forms a symmetrical, orbicular 

 head of large dimensions. The limbs of 

 such a tree are long and lithe, striking 

 out from the centre close to each other, 

 their combination forming the central stem 

 of the tree. The aspect of a forest beech 

 is in marked contrast with a "pasture" tree 

 of this species. In a beech-growing region 

 it is common to see wide reaches of woods 

 almost exclusively of this tree. In such a 

 place the trees shoot up straight and almost 

 limbless from fifty to eighty feet, the few 

 branches at the top meeting and mingling 

 with each other, forming ashade which only 

 here and there admits the sunlight. The 

 bodies as well as the limbs are smooth in all 

 stages of their growth, excepting that upon 

 old ti-ees the lower portions are generally 

 nearly covered with a rough lichen, different 

 patches showing a variety of dark gray 

 shades. 



The roots of the beech run very near the 

 surface of the ground. This fact, taken 

 with its density of shade, prevents the usual 

 forest undergrowth of shrubs and small trees. 

 The leaves under the trees lie in compact 

 layers, formed year by year, decaying but 

 slowly. Thus a forest of beech forms a syl- 

 van scene of a remarkably neat and comely 

 appearance. 

 The buds of the beech are long and pointed, 



and composed of closely imbricated scales 

 covering the plaited leaves. The leaves are 

 noticeable for the prominent midrib and par- 

 allel veins each ending in a single tooth. Thev 

 are shining above and hairy when young. 

 The young leaves contain a sub-acid juice 

 not disagreeable to the taste. The fruit can- 

 not be mistaken for that of any other tree. 

 It is an oily, edible, three-cornered nut en- 

 cased in a four-valved, bristly bur. These 

 nuts vary much in size and shape upon dif- 

 ferent trees. It is probable that by proper 

 selection and cultivation the nuts might 

 be made valuable as an edible product. 

 Beech woods in Europe, and in this country 

 even, are valued as feeding-ground for swine, 

 the nuts being known as " beech mast." 

 The nuts when roasted form an agreeable 

 substitute for coffee, and the oil from them 

 furnishes in lamps a pleasant light. For 

 the blossoms one must look among the open- 

 ing tufts of leaves at the ends of the branches 

 where they appear, the sterile ones in pretty 

 roundish tassels, from silky stalks two inches 

 long. The fertile flowers are in sessile 

 bunches at the axils of the leaves. P^rom 

 these the burs and nuts gradually develop 

 during the summer months, ripening and 

 falling with the frosts of October. 



The straight boles of the forest beeches 

 are in such demand for the turners use in 

 making chairs, tool handles, etc., that even 

 the valleys of the Berkshire Hills and the 

 remoter parts of northern New England are 

 being rapidly denuded of these trees. A 

 noticeable characteristic of the wood is the 

 dark color of the heart-wood as contrasted 

 with the almost wiiite sap-wood. The greater 

 or less degree of the development of the 

 heart-wood gives rise to a distinction among 

 woodmen of the " white " and "red " beech. 

 Among the finest single specimens of 

 beech known to the writer, in this state, is a 

 wide-spreading, stately tree about a half a 

 mile north of Silver Spring, by the bay-side. 

 It limbs very low, and although now in midst of 

 shrubs and trees of small growth, it must 

 for many years have stood quite alone. 

 There are other fine trees of the same spe- 

 cies near by. There are also fine specimens 

 of forest beeches in the ravines within and 

 near by the Butler Hospital grounds. One 

 of the most perfect models of this tree which 

 we have ever known is upon Engineer Shedd's 

 farm in North Kingstown. It is of impos- 



