American Beech - Fagus grandifolia

Fagaceae - Beech Family
"A Year With the Trees" - Tree Number 36
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia

Spring

Young leaves of the Fagus grandifolia tree

This tree lives on a mountainside near Asheville, North Carolina. Five things I learned about the American Beech are:

• The leaf margins are called bluntly serrate; can you see how that description fits by looking at the leaf?
• The leaf veins are all parallel to each other and very prominent.
• Many people believe that oils in the beech trees protect the trees from lightening strikes. 
• The American Beech tree is part of the Fagaceae Family, which is also the family of the American Chestnut.
• This is a slow growing tree that can reach a height of 100 feet.

Fagus grandifolia male flowers

Did you know that there are insects and amphibians that live entirely on Beech trees? I hope if anyone out there has Beech trees that they will protect them and keep them safe. These slow growing trees take many years to produce their beechnuts. They are extremely slow growing; yet, they are valuable to the life of many lives.

Find a beech forest and watch....you will be amazed. May we all find a beech tree forest in our lifetimes...complete with the red backed salamander....

Summer

Fagus grandifolia, American Beech

Fall

A Smokey Mountain Beech Gap

A Smokey Mountain Beech Gap

The Beech Gap in the Smokies

Perhaps this is the most breathtaking place I have ever been.  
Is it the color of the Beech leaves against Fall's blue southern sky?  
Is it the way we are all silent and just standing in the presence of something far greater than ourselves?
I can not comprehend all that I feel as I stand in this place. 

Beech Gaps are here with us on this planet in ever shrinking numbers.  These habitats are home to species that only live in and around these trees.  May we all do our part to learn all we can as to how we can protect and preserve the biodiversity of the Beech Gaps on the earth.  You can visit this Beech Gap and experience the awe yourself.  It is near Indian Gap in the Great Smokey Mtn. National Park in Tennessee.

Thank you, Jeremy Lloyd, who teaches at Tremont Institute, for teaching our Class on Southern Appalachian Ecology and taking us to the Beech Gap. www.gsmit.org

Winter

Fagus grandifolia's pointed bud

The Beech Tree

The Beech Tree

This tree is easy to identify in the winter months for it holds on to it's light colored leaves when most trees have already shed their leaves. The bark is smooth which is another clue. The oaks that still hold onto their leaves look very different; for their leaves are darker and the bark is not smooth like the American Beech.

These tree's leaves seemed to be glowing in the dark overcast day. Glowing, like lanterns. http://www.ashevillebotanicalgardens.org/

This  tree is what is called a marcescent.  Marcescent trees keep their leaves on throughout most of winter. Go outside and when you see trees with their leaves still hanging on it is a marcescent. The Beech Trees and Oak Trees are marcescents.

For the love of the trees,
Becky

Fagus grandifolia from my journals