XII. The Beech Tree 



" Under the branches of the beech we flung 

 Our limbs at ease and our bent bows unstrung." 



From the Spanish. 



The beech merits a high place among the shade trees of 

 Chautauqua. It is a stately and beautiful tree. It can be 

 readily recognized by certain characters of its foliage and 

 bark. 



The leaves are arranged alternately on the twigs. They 

 are oval, sharply pointed at the apex, and with rounded or 

 heart-shaped bases. The margin is coarsely toothed, and the 

 blade of the leaf is feather-veined. The very young leaves 

 are folded fan-wise, and are covered with fine dense silky 

 hair. In autumn the leaves turn a beautiful clear golden- 

 yellow. 



The beech has a large, symmetrical, smooth-barked trunk. 

 The bark is compact, not fissured or conspicuously checked, 

 and is a beautiful mottled ash-gray in color. The tree fre- 

 quently attains a height of 70 to 80 feet. 



In mid-summer (July) the prickly, dark-green fruit-burs 

 are abundant and conspicuous. The bur is exquisitely con- 

 structed, and may be compared with that of its close relative, 

 the chestnut. The bur is made up of four segments of valves, 

 and is lined with a dense wool. It contains three brown, tri- 

 angular nuts, each about three-quarters of an inch long. The 

 meat of these beech nuts is sweet and good to eat, and has 

 been famous from the earliest times as food both for man 

 and for animals. Indeed, some of us can remember turkey 

 stuffed with beech nuts. The generic name of the beech is 

 fagus, and this is derived from the Greek phago, to eat, re- 

 ferring to the esculent nuts. 



Beech wood is light red, hard, strong, tough, with very 

 close straight grain, which takes a high polish. A consider- 



