THE BEECH. 
Fa/gus sylvat'ica L. 
Ir must surely be difficult to resist enthusiasm for 
our British trees when standing, at the close of 
April or beginning of May, under the young foliage 
of a Beech. This grand tree may not have full 
claim to rank as a native of Britain, since we find 
no prehistoric remains of its wood; but we have 
no records of its introduction, and certain it is that 
the Beech-groves of our chalk and limestone hills 
need not yield, so far as the grandeur or beauty of 
their existing trees is concerned, to those of any 
other region. 
Belonging to the same family as the Oaks, the 
Beeches occur over a great part of the world. 
They are absent from Africa and Southern Asia, 
but clothe the hills alike of Japan, New Zealand, 
South Australia, Tasmania, Tierra del Fuego, North 
America, Norway, Spain, and Asia Minor, our own 
‘species, Fagus sylvatica, occurring in the three last 
of these regions. 
The name Beech is in early English boc, bece, 
or beoce; in German Buche, and in Swedish bok, 
and signifies either “ book” or “tree,’ the two 
senses being supposed to be connected by the fact 
that the ancient Runic writings were engraved upon 
beechen boards. “The origin of the word;” says 
Dr. Prior in his “ Popular Names of British Plants,” 
34 105 
