THE BEECH. 



Fa'gus sylvat'ica L. 



It must surely be difficult to resist enthusiasm for 

 our British trees when standing, at the close of 

 April or beginning of May, under the young foliage 

 of a Beech. This grand tree may not have full 

 claim to rank as a native of Britain, since we find 

 no prehistoric remains of its wood ; but we have 

 no records of its introduction, and certain it is that 

 the Beech-Droves of our chalk and limestone hills 

 need not yield, so far as the grandeur or beauty of 

 their existing trees is concerned, to those of any 

 other region. 



Belonging to the same family as the Oaks, the 

 Beeches occur over a great part of the world. 

 They are absent from Africa and Southern Asia^ 

 but clothe the hills alike of Japan, New Zealand, 

 South Australia, Tasmania, Tierra del Fuego, North 

 America, Norway, Spain, and Asia Minor, our own 

 species, Fagus sylvatica, occurring in the three last 

 of these regions. 



The name Beech is in early English hoc, bece, 

 or beoce ; in German Buche, and in Swedish bok, 

 and signifies either " book " or " tree," the two 

 senses being supposed to be connected by the fact 

 that the ancient Runic writings were engraved upon 

 beechen boards. " The origin of the word," says 

 Dr. Prior in his " Popular Names of British Plants," 



34 105 



