BEECH TREE. 



FAGUS SYLVATICUS. 



AMENTACE^. MONCECIA POLYANDRIA. 



Fagus is from the Greeks and signifies to eat ; the nuts of the 

 Beech having been a common article of food in the early ages. 



French, betre^, hetre ; Italian, faggio. ^ 



The Beech sometimes grows to an enormous size ; and 

 in its usual growth, is a fine, lofty and spreading tree : 



" The Beech that scales the welkin with his top." 



The trunk is straight, and covered with a whitish bark ; 

 the leaves are about three inches long, and nearly as wide ; 

 smooth and glossy ; they remain on the tree until driven 

 off by the shooting of new ones in the spring. The 

 fruit is composed of two nuts joined at the base, and 

 covered with an almost globular involucre, which has soft 

 spines on the outside ; but within, is delicately smooth 

 and silky : 



" The Beech, of oily nuts 



Prolific." 



The Beech is a Briton, and a native of most of the 

 countries of Europe ; but not in very high or cold situa- 

 tions. It does not thrive well in light lands, and of all 

 exposures, least Hkes the west : it grows well in a rocky, 

 chalky soil. In some parts of Hertfordshire, where the 

 soil is a strong clay full of flints, it grows very large and 

 beautiful. In the course of the last century, large planta- 

 tions of Beech have been made both in England and 

 Scotland. 



