Handbook of Teees of the Northern States and Canada. 



The Beech is one of the most Jistiiiet and 

 beautiful trees of our eastern Anieiiean forests, 

 sometimes surjiassing 100 ft. in lieiglit and 

 witli straight eolumnar trunl< 3 or 4 ft. in 

 thickness vested in its trim sniooHi l)liiish 

 gray barl<. Wlien isolated it ilevelo|>s a 

 rounded or hroad ujuight spreading top ol 

 manv branches and slender liraia-lilets. It in- 

 habits rich well-drained uplands aiul slo[ics. in 

 the nortli in company with the Sugar Aia|)le, 

 Birches, flop llornlieam, l>ass\\ooil. Hemlock, 

 etc. and in the south is found along tlie borders 

 of s«am[is and bottom-lands. It often in old 

 ai,^e sends up many shoots fn.HU its roots \A-hich 

 form a thicket afiont its base, and as the 

 parent declines the littest of these survive and 

 grow into trees to take its place. it is a 

 beautiful tree at all tinujs, each snecessi\e 

 season of the year giving to it a peculiar 

 charm, and not the least of these i^ its leallcss 

 condition in \\'inter. Its nuts foini tlie chief 

 article of food for many denizens id' the forest 

 and they are sometimes gathcued and sold m 

 northern nuirkets. 



The wood, a cubic foot of wdiicli. when abso- 

 lutely dry, weighs 42.89 U)>., is used in the 

 manufacture of furniture, wooden-ware, plane- 

 stocks, etc., and for fuel.- 



lA'iirr.i ovate-olilons, "-& in. hine, acuminate. 

 wedse-sLaped, rounded or cordate at liasr. coarscl.v 

 serrate, a vein terminatJog in each 1<.mjL1i, pale 

 green and silky tomenlose when the.v untold, but 

 linally glabrous dark green above, paler and with 

 hairs in the a.\-ils and on the midribs beneath : 

 petioles short. /7o/rrr.s appear after the li'a\'i's 

 untold. Fruit: nut about % in. long; iovnlucre 

 covered with many st'uder piickles. with stout 

 peduncles and persisting open u|jon the oranchlets 

 late into the u'inter." 



1. Syn. Fafjus ferruginca 

 punicca (Marsh.) Sudw. 



2. A. W.. I, 16. 



.3. r'or genus see p. 420. 



Ait. 



Fagus atro- 



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