The Garden Magazine, April, 1920 
119 
discovered in Serbia and introduced to gardens about a quarter 
of a century ago. I have by no means mentioned all the 
known forms, however; but enough has been said to show 
the adaptable and precocious character of the common 
Beech. The fruit of the Beech is a stalked capsule clothed 
with simple pliant prickles. When ripe this opens at the 
apex into four divisions, and sheds the two nuts that each 
contains. The nut is sharply 3-angled, is rich in oil, and of 
pleasant flavor. In France, more especially in former times, 
the oil is expressed and used for culinary and illuminating 
purposes. The nuts are greedily eaten by wild pigeons and 
other birds, and by squirrels, deer, wild pigs, and other 
animals. 
T HE common Morel (Morchella esculenta), a mushroom-like 
fungus much used in culinary art for flavoring, grows in 
Beech woods. It is always found in the spring and in France and 
Germany the gathering of Morels is quite an industry among the 
peasantry. But more esteemed by the gourmet is the Truffle 
(Tuber cibarium) which grows on the roots of the Beech. This 
Fungus is subterranean in habit and never appears above the 
ground. It is black, of irregular shape, about the size of a hen’s 
egg, covered with warty excrescences and possesses a very strong 
but agreeable odor. It matures in the month of October and 
the flesh is brown, veined with white. It is generally found by 
pigs and dogs trained to search for it. Though it is by no means 
confined thereto, France supplies commercially the bulk of the 
Truffles of the world. 
Finally it may not be amiss to mention the fact that the firm, 
close, smooth pale gray bark, “its glossy rind,’’ seems to have 
proved from early times an irresistible attraction to love-sick 
swains, sentimental adolescents and other irresponsibles. 
Everywhere one sees lovely Beech trunks disfigured by letters 
and symbols cut into the bark, some many, many years ago. No 
other tree indeed, suffers to the same extent from this particular 
form of egotistical vandalism. 
THE FAMOUS BURNHAM BEECHES 
This remnant of a vast forest once extending across England and doubt- 
less a thousand years old when William the Conqueror invaded the 
land, is now a three-hundred-acre public playground acquired during 
the present generation by the Corporation of the City of London 
"Gardens may boast a tempting show 
Of nectarines, grapes and peaches, 
But daintiest truffles lurk below 
The boughs of Burnham Beeches.” 
