358 ] Trees and How to Know Them 



BEECHES HANDSOME AND PRACTICAL 



If there are beech trees in your neighborhood, your chil- 

 dren are likely to be familiar with the nuts even though they pay 

 scant attention to the rest of the tree. By early fall they are ripe 

 and edible two or three small triangular, highly polished nuts 

 enclosed in a small prickly bur. Another distinctive characteristic 

 of the beech is its smooth, blue-gray, skinlike bark which hugs 

 trunk and branches, even on old trees. 



THE HARDY AND LONG-LIVED AMERICAN BEECH 



The American beech, a relative of the oaks, has striking beauty of form, foliage 

 and bark. This hardy and long-lived tree is easy to recognize by its smooth gray 

 bark. The family name of the beech, Fagus, comes from a Greek word meaning 

 to "eat" perhaps a reference to the tasty beech nut, which makes good eating. 



