Beech Tree Although beech trees are found in several separate places in the world, they are not in the form of vast forests, except in places where the soil is made of lime or limestone. This type of tree does not live in the atmosphere of Egypt. It is grown in Britain under a special system of forest management known as the electoral system. Forests do not cut down all its trees at once, rather a number of trees of different sizes are taken from the forest at intervals. The deficiency is compensated by natural growth and self-cultivation of the remaining trees. The name Hanger was given to the beech forests, which grow on the steep slopes of the mountains. The beech trees make up the most beautiful forests to walk in. Its leaves are so dense that little light penetrates into the ground, so there is seldom a heavy growth beneath it. In spring, the leaves are of a beautiful pale green colour, which gets darker as the summer progresses . In the fall, its color becomes red, tending to the sky, and bright before falling, which makes the forest in this season the most beautiful of all forests.
The beech tree is often planted for decoration in gardens, or on both sides of roads. The copper beech , which is a strain of the common beech, is one of the most common species, and its leaves are dark red-brown in color. Maiden -hair Beech, Pyramidal Beech and other ornamental strains.
the tree
Beech tree trunk
The beech tree is a wonderful tree, its growth becomes more massive as it grows older. Its bark is gray and smooth, and remains smooth no matter how old the tree is. It is for this reason that the beech trees are disfigured more than any other tree, when people carve their names upon them. Beech trees reach a height of about 30 meters in about 100 years, and continue to increase in diameter for a long time after that.
leaves
Beech tree leaves.
The leaves of the beech tree are oval in shape, and the edges are not serrated. The leaves appear in the month of April, and at first they are pale green in color, covered from the bottom with a silvery white color, which protects them from early frost. During winter the pointed leaf buds are encased in dark scales.
the fruit
*** Beech nuts in the fall .
The fruit of the beech is a triangular nut, with a bright brown color, and it is usually called Mast. The venetian fruits are borne in pairs surrounded by a thick skin, which is covered from the outside with hard thorns, and some animals find it palatable to eat.
flowers
The flowers appear a little later in the beech tree than the leaves. The male flowers are separated from the female flowers, and both types are borne in racemose inflorescences. The male flowers hang from long peduncles, while the female inflorescences are standing, with short petioles.
beech forest communities
In beech-dominated forests, the shadows cast by the trees are so thick, that they do not allow many young trees and other plants to grow. Yew and Holly are sometimes found, which are evergreen trees, and can grow to some extent in early spring and late autumn, when the boughs of the beech are exposed. In the dense beech forests, there may be no plants that live above the ground except those that live on the decomposing plant matter, which are called epiphytic plants and thus do not need light. One such plant is the bird-nest orchid.
In the more exposed beech woods there is a greater variety of plants, including the fragrant Woodruff with its star-white flowers, the wild violet , and the Murcurialisperennis , all of which do not need much light, and are always found in shady places. In the fall, there are many fungi, and the amazing white fungus, Lactarius pallidus, is found only in beech forests.
Beech forests in Europe
European beech ( Fagus sylvatica ).
Beech tree photographed by Eugene Atge , c. 1910-1915
In central Europe there are many beech forests, growing from 350 meters above sea level, except 1600 or 2000 meters in the mountains, and the further south you go, the more trees grow at greater heights, and trees grow in the north in the low countries, but in Britain they are It does not extend much in its nurseries, and the oldest and best beech forests are now to the east of the Alps. And in the Caucasus and Western Asia.
north america
North American beech ( Fagus grandifolia ), in fall .
Asia
Chinese beech ( Fagus engleriana ).
The benefits of beech
The wood of the beech is very useful, light brown in color and homogeneous in texture in all directions, making it particularly suitable for making small, well-crafted objects, such as gun butts and shoe heels, wooden cups and bread boards. It is also used on a large scale in the work of car bodies and furniture, and the manufacture of seats in an old industry, and the traditional name is still given to those who manufacture it, which is Chiltern Hiils. In England the beech does not ripen well, but in southern Europe it is used as fodder for pigs and for the production of a kind of oil.