LXX. CORYLA‘CE#: FA‘GUS. 905 
Genus II. 
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FAGUS ZL. Tue Betcu. Lin, Syst. Monce‘cia Polyandria. 
Identification. Lin. Gen., No. 1072.; Willd. Sp. P}., 1694.; N. Du Ham., 2. p. 79. 
Synonymes. According to Bauhin, the Fagus of the Romans, and the Oxua of the Greeks; Castanea 
Tourn. 352.; Hétre, Fr.; Buche, Ger.; Beuke, Dutch; Bog, Dan.; Bok, Swed.; Buk, Russ. 
and Pol.; Faggio, Ita/.; Haya, Span. ; Faya, Port. 
Derivation. From phago, to eat; because the nuts were used as food in the early ages. 
Gen. Char., &c. Male flowers in stalked drooping heads or capitate catkins, 
3 or 4 in each, attended by minute deciduous bracteas. Each flower 
consists of a 5—6-cleft bell-shaped calyx, and 8—12 stamens, that arise from 
the bottom of the calyx, and extend beyond its mouth. — Female flowers 
borne 2—6 together, within a pitcher-shaped indistinctly 4-lobed involucre, 
constituted of numerous unequal bracteal scales, and interior scales, grown 
together. Each flower consists of a calyx, lengthened into a laciniate limb, 
and investing the ovary. Fruit nuts. (G. Don.) 
Leaves simple, alternate, stipulate, deciduous, rarely evergreen; entire or 
serrated, feather-veined, plaited in the bud. Flowers whitish yellow. Fruit 
covered with a hairy calyx.— Trees large, deciduous, handsome, and some 
evergreen shrubs ; natives of the colder parts of Europe, North and South 
America, and Australia. 
A. Cupule muricate, capsuliform. Ovaries included. Young leaves plicate. 
Natives of Europe, and of North and South America. 
a. Species in Cultivation in British Gardens. 
¥1. F.sytva’tica L. The Wood, or common, Beech. 
Identification. Lin. Sp. Pl,, 1416.; Eng. Fl., 4. p. 152. ; Hook. Br. Fl., ed. 3. p. 411. . 
Synonymes. Castanea Fagus Scop. Carn. No. 1188. ; Fagus Bauh. Pin. 419. F. sylvéstris Michr. N. 
Amer. 3. t. 107. Oxya, Greek ; Fagus, Lat.; Hétre commun, Fr.; gemeine Buche, Ger. ; Rood- 
beuke, Dutch. J ? 
Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 1846. ; N. Du Ham., t. 24.; the plate of this tree in Arb. Brit. Ist edit. 
vol. viii. and our fig. 1696. 
Spec. Char., &c. Leaves ovate, glabrous, obsoletely dentate ; ciliate on their 
margins. (Willd.) A large deciduous tree. Various parts of Europe ; 
and one variety in North America. Height 60 ft. to 100 ft. Flowers 
brownish ; May. Nut brown ; ripe in October. 
Varieties. 
4% F.s. 2 purpurea Ait. Hort. Kew. v. p. 297. F. s. 2 atro-ribens Du 
Roi ; Hétre noir, Fr.; the purple Beech. — The buds and young 
shoots are of arose colour: the leaves, when half-developed, of a 
cherry red; and, when fully matured, at midsummer, of so dark ° 
a purple as to appear almost black. The bark, not only of the 
young shoots, but even of the old wood and of the trunk of the 
tree, partakes strongly of the same dark colour as the leaves. 
¥ F.s. 3 cuprea Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836. The copper-coloured Beech.— 
A sub-variety of F.s. purptrea. Young shoots and leaves of a paler 
colour than those of the purple beech. It makes a splendid ap- 
pearance in the sunshine, and when the leaves are gently ruffled with 
the wind ; but, in a state of repose, and on a dark cloudy day, it can 
hardly be distinguished from the common green-leaved beech. 
4 FB. s. 4 foliis variegatis Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836.— The leaves variegated 
with white and yellow, interspersed with some streaks of red and 
purple. This variety is handsome in spring, when the leaves first 
make their appearance ; but, in the course of the summer, their 
variegation is in a great measure lost, and the leaves assume a dirt 
