Fagus Species, American Beech, Beech-Nut Tree, North American Beech

The qualities that make this such a grand forest tree also make it a problematic yard tree. We have a few 100-plus foot tall beechnuts on...Read More our property that were left by loggers who apparently couldn't sell the wood. I call them Pandora trees because they look like they're from 'Avatar'. The forest floor underneath a mature tree (60-plus years) is almost barren because their thick canopy creates the darkest place in the forest. They also wait until spring to drop the last of their leaves, effectively smothering newly-emerging trees or grass. Nuts and their spiky hulls blanket the area in early fall. Although the nuts have too much tannin for people to eat in quantity, deer and other animals appreciate the fatty forage before winter. When younger beechnut trees reach about 15-20 feet tall, they aggressively crowd out surrounding trees by blanketing over them with branches. I cut back the first row of beechnuts surrounding my yard, leaving oaks and maples in place. My chainsaw blades dulled out in a third of the normal time because of how dense and fibrous the wood is, and I found that cutting them with a hand saw is a full body workout. After a few years, beechnut trees farther back were again pushing out a wall branches from behind the oaks and maples.

One of our most beautiful native trees, I love to encounter a mature stand in the forest. This species is much more inclined to root-suck...Read Moreer than the european beech, and so less suited to a designed landscape.

Lovely shade tree that is one of the dominant forest trees in climax woods of southeast PA. I've seen a good number in northwest Indiana ...Read Moreand east central Indiana too. Sometimes found in residential yards. I've seen it doing well in barely acid soils, as those of the limestone derived soils around Downingtown, PA. It has lighter gray bark than the European Beech and larger leaves, and much fewer cultivars. It is not as adaptable as the European species to refined landscapes with lawn and more alkaline pH reaction. I remember an American and an European planted next to each other in lawn in Urbana, Illinois on the campus of the University of ILL; both were doing well. I think the American is more beautiful and should be preferred in naturalistic American landscapes. I discourage many Eurasian woody plants in North America and visa versa, due to poorer ecology and the possibility of exotic plants going invasive.

Beautiful tree. Range extends to Robert, Louisiana, where there is stil a local remnant of the Beech/Magnolia climax community remaining.