428 KEW ENGLAND TKEES IN AVINTEK. 



BEECH 

 American Beech. 



Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. 



F. ferruiiinia Ait. ; F. americana Sweet ; F. atropiinicea Sudw. 



HABIT — A tall tree 50-7.", ft. or more in height with a trunk diameter 

 of l'/2-'i ft.; in the forest witli 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, Uense, rounded, obUmg or obovate head; roots near the 

 surfai.e. wide l\" spreading and sending u\.' shouts which often surround 

 the parciu pkmt with a thicket of small trets. 



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

 covered with lichens in the country ; in or about cities ^vhere lichen 

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

 gra>' ; f rum tlie ease with which it is carved, generally adurned with 

 initials and (.<)\"eni injuilized outlines of the human heart. 



T\\'1GS — Slender, somewhat zigZi.g, smooth, shining, red dish -brown, 

 becuming gray on older growth. Spray tlattish from :^-ranked position 

 of the biKis ; slo'w- growing branch lets numeruus, leafy at tips, elongat- 

 ing ea^h season only a small fraction of an inch, and growing but 

 slightly in thickness; thus one uf the twigs in photograph is :;9 

 years old and had grown only 4io iiiuhes in length and acquired a 

 thii-kness of less than '6 mm. during this time. LKNTiClLfjS — numerous, 

 considcxHjiis, orange to graj", elongated longitudinallj'. lJ^iA^'JiS — fre- 

 quent ly remaining; on tree in winier, pale yellow, u\'al, sharp -pointed, 

 A\'it ii pr'>mint-iu, straigiit \"eins, ending in teeth. 



LI-: VF-SCAI5S — Small, raised, elliptical to semi -circular. STIPULE- 

 SCAKS — narn.iw. distinct, nearly- eiuircling twig. BCX DLE- SOAKS — 

 Inconsi.di.iious, best seen bj' cutling surface section, 5 or mure in double 

 row or scattered. 



BIOS — Conspicuousb" hmg and very slender, 10-20 mm. long, about 3 

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

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

 — numerous, 10-1:0 in 4 ranks, increasing in length fr'om base to apex, 

 reddish- brown, their margins more or less hnel>' hairj" and often with 

 a "Wuully patch uf down at tip, leaving a rather long and distinct set 

 of scale- Scars marking eaeh >" ear's gru wth. 



FRl'lT — 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 tri-e iuLu winter, after the nut has fallen. NCT — 

 brown, shining, 1.0-1..J cm. long, i^-slded 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 IF'afius si/lvatica L.] with weeping and 

 purple-leaved varieties is frequently plante<l fur ornament. It has a 

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



DISTRIBUTIOX — :\roist. 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; cimimon on the Connecticut-Merrimac watershed, enters 

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

 ^ ermuni — abundant; Massachusetts — in western sections abundant, 

 com uion eastward ; Rhode Island — common. 



IN CONNECTICUT — Occasional or frequent, rarely maturing perfect 

 fruit. 



AA'OOO — Hard, strong, tnugh, very close-grained, not durable, dif- 

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

 worid nf 2()-?.() la>'ers of annual growth; largely used in the manufacture 

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



