The Beeches 



leaves, short-stemmed, in scaly involucre. Fruit, October, a / 



prickly bur containing 2 triangular, pale-brown nuts, sweet, 

 edible, in thin shells. Preferred habitat, rich river bottoms. Dis- 

 tribution, Nova Scotia to Lake Huron, and northern Wisconsin; -#' 

 south to Florida, Missouri and Texas, Uses: Beautiful orna- 

 mental and shade tree. Wood used for chairs, tool handles, plane 

 stocks, shoe lasts, and for fuel. Nuts fatten hogs, and feed wild 

 animals and birds. 



We have but one native beech, and it is a clannish tree. Find 

 me a single specimen in the woods, and I will show you a miniature 

 forest of beeches springing up around.it as soon as the tree comes 

 into bearing. Squirrels carry the nuts, so do the bluejays, and 

 the wind helps to scatter them. Beech nuts have much vitality, 

 and the seedlings grow well, even in dense shade. This gives them 

 a distinct advantage over the young of many other trees. Seeds 

 of sun-loving species must fall in the clearings if they hope to grow. 

 In a few years there is a dense beech thicket, with only large trees 

 of other kinds. When these are cut out the area comes to be 

 called "the beech woods." 



In April and May we may see the germination of beech nuts. 

 The gaping burs and three-cornered nuts lie in plain sight under 

 the tree. A nut splits along one sharp edge and a slender root 

 protrudes. It grows downward and burrows in the leaf mould. 

 The stem emerges at the same time and place and extends in the 

 opposite direction. It is topped by a crumpled green bundle, 

 which unfolds directly into a pair of short and broad seed leaves, 

 totally unlike the leaves of the beech tree. 



In this case the triangular shell clings but a little while to the 

 growing plantlet. Oftener, however, the opening is just wide 

 enough to let the root out. Then the stem carries the shell up 

 and wears it like a helmet until the leaves within spread themselves 

 and cast it off. 



Young beech trees are very weak and pale and twisted at first. 

 They lean helplessly against dead leaves and twigs for support. 

 But when the roots get a grip on the soil and the leaves turn a 

 brighter green they become quite independent. A shoot bearing 

 true beech leaves rises from the bud between the two seed leaves, 

 which soon wither away. In the fall a long whip set v/ith winter 

 buds represents the first season's growth. 



From now on the life of a little beech is just like that of a 



183 



