BEECH, the name for well known trees of the genus Fagus, members of the family Fagaceae to which belong the sweet-chest nuts and the oaks. The name beech is from the Anglo-Saxon boc, bete or beoce (Ger. Buche, Swedish, bok), words meaning at once a book and a beech-tree. The connection of the beech with the graphic arts is supposed to have originated in the fact that the ancient Runic tablets were formed of thin boards of beech-wood. Beech-mast, the fruit of the beech-tree, was formerly known in England as buck; and the county of Buckingham is so named from its fame as a beech-growing country. Beechmast has been used as food in times of distress and famine ; and in autumn it yields an abundant supply of food to park deer and other game, and to pigs, which are turned into beech woods in order to utilize the fallen mast. In France it is used for feeding pheasants and domestic poultry. Well-ripened beechmast yields from 17 to 2o% of non-drying oil, suitable for illumination, and said to be used in some parts of France and other European countries in cooking, and as a substitute for butter.
There are only eight species and varieties of beeches. The European and American species are much alike, the latter having bark of a lighter colour and somewhat less shiny leaves which drop earlier in autumn than the European species. This species often holds its dead, brown leaves through most of the winter. The winter buds of beech are conspicuously elongated, and the leaves are dentate and shiny with small stipules; the flowers are monoe cious. The bark of the American species is light grey and remains so even on very old trunks. The European species has an olive grey bark which also holds its colour when old. The beech is one of the largest of forest trees. It grows well on dryish sandy loam and limestone soils, shuns swamps, but endures shade. It is one of the main trees of the climax forests because its seedlings can grow in heavy shade. In this way new trees continue to take the place of old mother trees and no other species can supplant it. Close competitors are the hard maple and the hemlock. The three together make what is called the final type or climax forest of the sections of the world where they thrive. They make the finest forest and are beloved by poets and nature enthusiasts.
In America the beech ranges from New Brunswick to Minnesota and south to Florida and Texas. It is one of the common forest trees of temperate Europe, spreading from southern Norway and Sweden to the Mediterranean. In England it is native but is planted in Scotland and Ireland. It is found on the Swiss Alps to about 5,000 ft. above sea level; it is plentiful in southern Rus sia, and is widely distributed in Asia Minor, and the northern provinces of Persia. As a forest plant the beech is a very impor tant tree. The hard, close-grained wood, though not especially good for building, is used in the manufacture of furniture, and many other articles. Owing to its handsome foliage, spreading or drooping habit and conspicuous bark, it is unsurpassed as an ornamental tree. The European Fagus sylvatica, has a variety pendula with drooping or weeping branches, a variety purpurea with purple or copper leaves, and several other forms in cultiva tion. The American species, Fagus grandi f olia, has also several varieties, as pubescens, caroliniana and ferruginea. There are many horticultural forms that are propagated and grown as ornamental trees. The wood of the beech makes excellent fuel and charcoal.