Jan 06, 2011


by Steve Blight

The American Beech is an elegant tree that is commonly found in the forests of this area. They make lovely contributions to forest landscapes at any time of year, but they really stand out in winter when their smooth bluish-gray bark contrasts beautifully with the snowy forest floor. Many people have no trouble recognizing beeches, even without leaves – only the bark of young red maples is likely to be confused with beech bark.

Although there are 10 species of beeches around the world, only the American Beech is native to North America. It can be found in the Maritime Provinces (but not Newfoundland), across southern Quebec and southern Ontario, west to Indiana and the Mississippi River, and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida. Slow-growing and very shade tolerant, beeches in Canada are usually found on moist, well-drained slopes and bottomlands, often in association with sugar maples, yellow birches and eastern hemlocks.

The beech is a medium to large tree, up to 25 meters (about 80 feet) in height and 100 cm (about 40 inches) in diameter. Two hundred-year-old beeches are not uncommon. When grown in the open, the trunk is short and the crown is very wide. Curiously, the leaves on small beech trees in the understory and on the lower branches of larger trees often become dry and bleached at the end of growing season and persist on the tree well into the winter.

Beeches are particularly valuable for wildlife. Their triangular-shaped nuts, found in pairs within a bristly husk, are relished by many animals, including blue jays, squirrels and black bears. Historically, beech nuts were a very important food for the now-extinct Passenger Pigeon. Many large beeches have claw marks up their trunks, left by black bears climbing into the treetop in search of nuts. When a bear finds an area of a tree with a good quantity of nuts, it parks itself in one place and pulls the nut-laden branches toward it, often leaving a “nest” of broken and damaged branches where it has been feeding. We have several large beech trees with claw marks on our property, and when shown to visitors they rarely fail to bring “oohs” and “aahs”. Many beeches – even medium-sized trees – are hollow, providing roosts or nesting places for birds or small mammals. Several years ago I had to cut down a dead beech that was threatening to fall on our cottage, and when it crashed to the ground, a decidedly displeased bat struggled out of the hollow trunk and flew off indignantly.

Beeches are useful for humans as well. Their hard, heavy wood makes excellent firewood, and is used to make furniture, woodenware and flooring. Roasted beech nuts are very tasty, but they are usually hard to get in numbers – good nut crops come only every few years, and most nuts are located high up in the trees, out of reach. I became wary of climbing trees when as a teenager in search of a good view I fell out of one and broke my arm; so collecting beech nuts from upper branches is not part of my repertoire. I have found that a good time to gather beech nuts is after an autumn storm, when a few nut-laden branches break off and fall to the ground. You have to act quickly though – you want to beat the squirrels!

 

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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