70 Trees with Simple Leaves. [A n 



Genus FAGUS, L. (Beech.) 



Fig. 35. Beech. F.ferrugmea, Ait. 



Leaves, SIMPLE ; ALTERNATE ; EDGE SHARP-TOOTHED, WITH 



SMALL AND REMOTE TEETH. 



Outline, oval or egg-shape. Apex, taper-pointed. Base, 

 rounded. 



Leaf, three to six inches long, about half as wide ; a very 

 " finished" leaf; when young, fringed with soft, 

 white hairs ; becoming smooth and polished ; with 

 distinct and straight unbranched side-ribs, ending in 

 the teeth of the edge. The dead, bleached leaves 

 often cling thickly to the branches throughout the 

 winter. 



Bark of the trunk, light gray, smooth, and unbroken. 



Fruit, a small four-celled prickly burr, splitting half-way 

 to the base when ripe, and with two sweet, three- 

 sided nuts in each shell. 



Found in rich woods, Nova Scotia to Florida and west- 

 ward, with its finest growth on the " bluffs " of the 

 lower Mississippi basin. 



Large stately trees, with spreading branches and a 

 delicate spray, fifty to eighty feet high. The wood is 

 hard and very close-grained, and is used largely in the 

 making of chairs, handles, plane-stocks, shoe-lasts, and 

 for fuel. When the tree is not crowded, it sends out its 

 nearly horizontal or drooping branches as low as from 

 ten to thirty feet above the ground. 



Lumber-men make the distinction of " Red Beech " 

 and " White Beech," claiming that the former is harder, 

 with a redder and thicker heart-wood. 



