American Beech, a Common Tree in North America

The Handsome American Beech

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is the only species of a beech tree in North America. Before the glacial period, beech trees flourished over most of North America. The American beech is now confined to the eastern United States. The slow-growing beech tree is a common, deciduous tree that reaches its greatest size the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys and may attain ages of 300 to 400 years.

The Silviculture of American Beech

Beech mast is palatable to a large variety of birds and mammals, including mice, squirrels, chipmunks, black bears, deer, foxes, ruffed grouse, ducks, and bluejays. Beech is the only nut producer in the northern hardwood type. Beechwood is used for flooring, furniture, turned products and novelties, veneer, plywood, railroad ties, baskets, pulp, charcoal, and rough lumber. It is especially favored for fuelwood because of its high density and good burning qualities.

Creosote made from beech wood is used internally and externally as a medicine for various human and animal disorders.

The Images of American Beech

Forestryimages.org provides several images of parts of American beech. The tree is a hardwood and the lineal taxonomy is Magnoliopsida > Fagales > Fagaceae > Fagus grandifolia Ehrhart. American beech is also commonly called beech.

The Range of American Beech

American beech is found within an area from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia west to Maine, southern Quebec, southern Ontario, northern Michigan, and eastern Wisconsin; then south to southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas; east to northern Florida and northeast to southeastern South Carolina. A variety exists in the mountains of northeastern Mexico.

American Beech at Virginia Tech Dendrology

Leaf: Alternate, simple, elliptical to oblong-ovate, 2 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches long, pinnately veined, 11-14 pairs of veins, with each vein ending in a sharp distinct tooth, shiny green above, very waxy and smooth, slightly paler below.

Twig: Very slender, zigzag, light brown in color; buds are long (3/4 inch), light brown, and slender, covered with overlapping scales (best described as "cigar-shaped"), widely divergent from the stems, almost looking like long thorns.

Fire Effects on American Beech

Thin bark renders American beech highly vulnerable to injury by fire. Postfire colonization is through root suckering. When the fire is absent or of low frequency, beech frequently becomes a dominant species in mixed deciduous forests. The transition from open fire-dominated forest to a closed-canopy ​deciduous forest favors the beech-magnolia type in the southern portion of beech's range.