Beech Fagus Sylvatica: Common Name: Beech. Genus: Fagus sylvatica. Height: Up to 40m (130 feet). Bark: Silver grey – smooth. Leaf: Green / Copper, ovate, wavy edge. Flower: Male – Yellow in pendulous clusters. Female: Inconspicious in leaf axils. Fruit: Prickly husks containing one or two; three sided brown nuts.

Sometimes called “the mother of the forest” Beech is native to Western and Central Europe, adapting best to a maritime climate. It is native to the South of England, but has now naturalized throughout Britain and Ireland.

It is likely that it was present in the 1600’s and may have been introduced by the Normans, although this is disputed. While many of the older trees are over 200 years old, Beech is generally not a long lived tree and few survive as healthy trees beyond this age.

It is a versatile wood and after steam heating it is possible to bend it. it is also easy to turn and finishes well when polished or stained.

Beech can grow to a height of up to 40 meters (130 feet) and has a characteristic smooth silver grey bark. Its leaves are alternate, short stalked, oval and entire, up to 10cms long and 6cms broad. They open a brilliant green with a fringe of silvery, silky hairs along their edges. In Autumn they turn to attractive shades of yellow and red before falling. The long, narrow, brown, dormant winter buds are borne on fine slender twigs. The small male flower appears in short catkins and the small female flowers in clusters of two’s and threes. When ripe, the fruit occur as paired triangular shaped nuts surrounded by a spiny husk or woody sheath that grows up from the base of the female flowers and then splits into four lobes to release the nuts.

Deciduous. Flowers from April to May. Popular for hedging as it holds its brown leaves for a long time.