CLA-14

Back >>

American Beech (Fagus americana)

Leaf: Simple, alternate; long oval; 10-15cm long; pairs of straight parallel veins; like notepad paper to the touch.
Flower: Yellowish green, in ball-like clusters; male and femail on same tree; white or just after leaves unfold.
Fruit: Shiny brown edible nuts, 2cm triangular, with concave sides; usually in twos or threes, within a brown husk with fuzzy, soft, curved red-tipped prickles.
Twig: Slender, shiny, smooth, mahogany brown, slightly zigzag with tiny lenticels; buds golden brown.
Bark: Steel gray, smooth, thin on both young and old trees.
Wood: Very heavy, hard, stiff, strong; impact resistant but not decay resistant.

Facts About this Tree:
1. American beech lives 300 years.
2. In the past beech wood served as writing material, so many early European languages equated the words beech and book.
3. They are a little fussy with soil moisture preference (moist but well-drained soil) that a few weeks of flooding can cause death.
4. Traditionally, ground, roasted beech nuts were used as a coffee substitute, or the oil was extracted and used as both food and lamp oil.
5. Beech nuts are an important wildlife food for both mammals and birds such as squirrels, raccoons, porcupines, black bears, blue jays and woodpeckers.

Lat, Long: 43.75087, -79.64784  cm
Diameter (DBH): 74.3 cm
Last Year Modified: 2015
Carbon Stored in this Tree: 2087.781 kg of C
Equivalent CO2: 7654.432 kg of C

Find more trees in Claireville Conservation Area

Reference
1. Blouin, Glen. 2001. An Eclectic Guide to Trees East of the Rockies. Erin, ON. Boston Mills Press
2. Petrides George A. 1998. A Field Guide to Eastern Trees: Eastern United States and Canada, Second Edition. NY. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. Ministry of Natural Resources. 2013. The Tree Atlas. Retrieved from http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/ClimateChange/2ColumnSubPage/STDPROD_101493.html
4. Photo Credit: Kathryn Chin; Natural Resources Canada

.Copyright 2015Association for Canadian Educational Resources