428 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



BEECH 

 American Beech. 



Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. 

 F. ferruglnia Ait. ; F. americana Sweet ; F. atropunicea Sudw. 



HABIT A tall tree 50-75 ft. or more in height with a trunk diameter 

 of 1^-4 ft.; in the forest with a tall slender trunk free of branches for 

 more than half its length; in the open low-branched with numerous 

 long, slender, widely spreading or drooping branches, forming a sym- 

 metrical, broad, aense, roundea, oblong or obovate head; roots near the 

 surface, widely spreading and sending up shoots which often surround 

 the parent plant with a thicket of small trees. 



BARK Close, smooth, steel-gray; more or less dark mottled and 

 covered with lichens in the country; in or about cities where lichen 

 growth is prevented by injurious gases in the air, a clear, lighter bluish- 

 gray; from the ease with which it is carved, generally adorned with 

 initials and coventionalized outlines of the human heart. 



TWIGS Slender, somewhat zigzag, smooth, shining, reddish-brown, 

 becoming gray on older growth. Spray flattish from 2-ranked position 

 of the buds; slow-growing branchlets numerous, leafy at tips, elongat- 

 ing each season only a small fraction of an inch, and growing but 

 slightly in thickness; thus one of the twigs in photograph is 29 

 years old and had grown only 4^ inches in length and acquired a 

 thickness of less than 3 mm. during this time. LENTICELS numerous, 

 conspicuous, orange to gray, elongated longitudinally. LEAVES fre- 

 quently remaining on tree in winter, pale yellow, oval, sharp-pointed, 

 with prominent, straight veins, ending in teeth. 



LEAF-SCARS Small, raised, elliptical to semi-circular. STIPULE- 

 SCARS narrow, distinct, nearly encircling twig. BUNDLE-SCARS 

 inconspicuous, best seen by cutting surface section, 5 or more in double 

 row or scattered. 



BUDS Conspicuously long and very slender, 10-20 mm. long, about 5 

 times as long as wide, gradually tapering to sharp-pointed apex; ter- 

 minal bud present not conspicuously larger than laterals. BUD-SCALES 

 numerous, 10-20 in 4 ranks, increasing in length from base to apex, 

 reddish-brown, their margins more or less finely hairy and often with 

 a woolly patch of down at tip, leaving a rather long and distinct set 

 of scale-scars marking each year's growth. 



FRUIT A stalked bur, densely downy and covered with soft spread- 

 ing and more or less recurved prickles, 4-valved, splitting to near the 

 base, remaining on the tree into winter, after the nut has fallen. NUT 

 brown, shining, 1.0-1.5 cm. long, 3-sided pyramidal; seed sweet, edible. 



COMPARISONS The long narrow buds and the smooth, bluish-gray 

 bark of the Beech make it an easy tree to identify in the winter. The 

 pale persistent dead leaves in connection with the habit may frequently 

 be used to distinguish the tree from a distance, the Oaks being about 

 the only other trees that have a similar retention of their withered 

 leaves. The European Beech [Fayus sylvatica L.] with weeping and 

 purple-leaved varieties is frequently planted for ornament. It has a 

 darker bark than the American tree but quite closely resembles it. 



DISTRIBUTION Moist, rocky soil. Nova Scotia through Quebec and 

 Ontario; south to Florida; west to Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine abundant; New Hampshire throughout 

 the state; common on the Connecticut-Merrimac watershed, enters 

 largely into the composition of the hardwood forests of Coos county; 

 Vermont abundant; Massachusetts in western sections abundant, 

 common eastward; Rhode Island common. 



IN CONNECTICUT Occasional or frequent, rarely maturing perfect 

 fruit. 



WOOD Hard, strong, tough, very close-grained, not durable, dif- 

 ficult to season, dark or often light red, with thin nearly white sap- 

 wood of 20-30 layers of annual growth; largely used in the manufacture 

 of chairs, shoe lasts, plane stocks, the handles of tools and for fuel. 



