Botany: beech trees

Self-tutoring about trees in Canada: the tutor mentions beech.

As a kid in the Maritimes, I often saw beech trees – American beech – which are included the Acadian forest. They can grow large: you might walk by one’s trunk not realizing it’s a beech.

While a common forest tree, I don’t recall seeing American beech as an ornamental very often in the Maritimes. However, European beech I did see sometimes. I noticed a few on a public lawn in Halifax, for instance. They were big and old, with purple leaves: I’d not seen a tree like them.

We do have European beech out here, too: I’ve seen a few in Campbell River. The ones I’ve noticed tend to be mature, with trunk around two feet in diameter. Some varieties have purple leaves, while I’ve heard others have bronze-colored ones (copper beech, some people call those).

Beech leaves are always elliptical with teeth. Beeches produce nuts encased in spiny husks. Once again: the trees are often so large you don’t notice their leaves for the trunk. However, the nuts can be seen in late summer or fall.

Source:

Brockman, Frank et al. Trees of North America: a Field Guide to Identification. New York: Golden Press, 1968.

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