io 4 FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 



It is a woodland plant, forming- a distinct type of formation, which is 

 characteristic in general of chalk and limestone districts, and elsewhere 

 it is planted in hedgerows and as avenues. The root is enveloped in 

 a fungoid mycelium or mycorhiza. 



The Beech has a characteristic habit, unlike the Oak or Elm, the 

 bole being erect with two main branches, and the tree lofty; or else it 

 branches at a lower level, and the branches are spreading and wavy, 

 ultimately spreading. 



The Beech is a lofty tree, which under exceptional circumstances 

 may attain a height of nearly 120 ft, and a girth of nearly 30 ft. The 

 bark is smooth and grey. The branches extend horizontally. The buds 

 are acute. The stipules soon fall, and are membranous. The leaves 

 are deciduous or evergreen, shortly stalked, with a long narrow point, 

 oblong to egg-shaped, smooth or downy when young, the later leaves 

 fringed at the border with hairs, and in bud they are plaited parallel 

 to the nerves. 



The Beech is monoecious. The male flowers are in long stalked 

 heads, and drooping; the flower-stalk is 1-2 in. long. There are no 

 bracts, or but small ones. The calyx is 4-7-lobed. There are 8-40 

 stamens, with slender projecting anther-stalks and oblong anthers. 

 The female flowers are on shorter stalks, 2-4, in an involucre of over- 

 lapping bracts, 4-partite. The limb of the calyx has 4-5 teeth. The 

 ovary is 3-angled, 3-celled. There are 3 linear styles. The fruit is 

 3-angled, smooth, 2 growing together, i-3-seeded. The capsule has 

 bristly segments, and is 4-cleft. 



The Beech is 40-60 ft. high as a rule. The flowers bloom in 

 April and May. It is a deciduous tree, propagated by seed. 



It only flowers occasionally, saving up material in the interim. 

 The flowers of the Beech are admirably adapted to pollination by 

 the wind. The stamens are long, projecting, and are numerous, so 

 that the pollen can readily be blown away by the wind. They are 

 also slender and readily shaken, so that when a puff of wind comes 

 a cloud of pollen is blown upwards to settle, some of it at least, upon 

 the linear styles of flowers above. The Beech is an example, unusual 

 in the group, of a tree in which the flowers appear after the leaves. 



The fruit is a dry, edible nut enclosed in a cupule, with a hard 

 pericarp, dispersed by rodents, squirrels, birds, &c. 



The Beech is a lime-loving plant, growing on a lime soil, especially 

 on limestone, oolite, and the chalk, where it is indigenous. 



Polyporus squamosiis, Fomes fomentarius, are common fungal pests. 

 The leaves are galled by Hormomyia fagi and H. piligera. Cow- 



