Fagus grandifolia
American beech (Fagus grandifolia )
The American beech (Fagus grandifolia ) is a medium -sized deciduous tree of the genus of the book. It is the only naturally occurring in North America beechwood.
Description
The American beech (german american beech ) reaches a height of 20 to 30 meters to 35 meters in rare cases. The bark is smooth and gray. The buds are brown and shiny. The leaves are 5 to 12 centimeters long and 2.5 to 7.5 inches wide, they are oblong- ovate and pointed. The base is broadly wedge -shaped to slightly cordate and often unbalanced. The edge is serrated and there are 9 to 15 pairs of nerves formed. The stem is 3-8 mm long. The upper leaf surface is shiny blue-green, the underside is lighter than the top. In autumn the leaves turn golden yellow to brown leather. As fruits nuts are formed, which sits in a fruit cup with thin, straight or curved bristles. The fruit cups are 15 to 20, in rare cases up to 25 millimeters in size and brown to red-brown color. They open at maturity and enter the 15 to 20 millimeters long and 10 to 18 millimeters wide nuts free. The American Beech frequently reproduces by root suckers.
Leaf and fruit cups
Distribution and habitat requirements
The distribution of American beech extends from eastern Canada on the northeast and southeast of the United States to Florida and in the southern Prairie States. They are also found in some areas in the north of Mexico. It grows in biodiversity-rich forests and prefers fresh to moist, acidic to neutral, sandy- humic and humic - loamy soils. It is usually frost hardy and thrives in full sun to partial shade. It grows in the north of the range at altitudes up to 900 meters in the southern Appalachians to 1800 meters. It occurs in pure stands or mixed stands, often with the sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ), with the yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis ), the American linden (Tilia americana), various oak (Quercus sp.) And hickories ( Carya ), with the Weymouth pine (Pinus strobus ) and the American Red spruce ( Picea rubens ).
System
The American beech is a species in the genus of beech (Fagus ). There she is assigned to the subgenus Fagus. There are two subspecies:
- Fagus grandifolia subsp. grandifolia
- Fagus grandifolia subsp. mexicana
Synonyms of species are Fagus americana and Fagus ferruginea, the subspecies mexicana is rarely considered also as a separate species Fagus mexicana.
Use
The American beech is rarely used for timber, it is sometimes used due to the remarkable fall color as an ornamental plant. In Europe, it occasionally occurs in parks.