| Description | American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is a large shade tree that produces edible nuts. |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | (FAG-us) (gran-dih-FOH-lee-uh) |
| Plant Type | Trees Deciduous, Site author's observations |
| Hardiness Zone | 4-9 |
| Sunlight | full, tolerates some shade |
| Moisture | average to moist, avoid wet areas and compact soil |
| Soil & Site | Prefers well-drained, average to humusy soil. |
| Flowers | Flowers are inconspicuous and not ornamental. They are monoecious, with male and female flowers separate on the same tree, male flowers in pendulous globular heads, and the female flowers borne on short spikes |
| Fruit | An edible triangular nut enclosed in a spiky 4-lobed involucre that contains 2 nuts. |
| Leaves | Simple and alternate, emerge shiny, change to dark green, wavy, rounded serrations, golden-yellow/bronze fall color, acuminate-shaped leaves. Many of the leaves will stay on the tree until the next scene. This is called marcescence. |
| Stems | bark is gray and smooth |
| Roots | May produce root suckers |
| Dimensions | 50-70 or up to 100, spread is egual to or less than the height |
| Maintenance | If needed, prune in the late summer. |
| Propagation | Seeds require cold stratification. |
| Native Site | Native to eastern North America. |
| Misc Facts | "Fagus [genus name] is derived from Greek phegos (beech) or phago- (eating) component, and is the Latin name for 'beech tree'. Sylvatica means 'wild, of or from woods or forests". (#145) |
| Author's Notes | These are some of the largest deciduous trees I have seen growing in Wisconsin (USA). Wide trunks with smooth gray bark. Wide oval form. At the Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners, Wisconsin (USA), there is a very large wide specimen. It was a smaller tree rescued from a highway project. |
| Notes & Reference | #01-Manual of Woody Landscape Plants (Michael Dirr, #93-North American Landscape Trees (Arthur Lee Jacobson), #145-Plant Lives (Sue Eland) www.plantlives.com |
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