Fagus grandifolia

Last updated

American beech
Beech with Branches.jpg
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Fagus
Species:
F. grandifolia
Binomial name
Fagus grandifolia
Subspecies [3]
  • Fagus grandifolia subsp. grandifolia
  • Fagus grandifolia subsp. mexicana (Martínez) A.E.Murray
Fagus grandifolia range map 1.png
It is naturally found from Eastern Canada to Central Mexico [3]
Synonyms [3]

Fagus grandifolia var. typica Rehder

Fagus grandifolia, the American beech or North American beech, is the only species of beech native to North America. Its current range comprises the eastern United States, isolated pockets of Mexico and southeastern Canada. [4] Prior to the glacial maximum of the Pleistocene epoch, the tree flourished over most of North America, reaching California. [5]

Contents

Description

Fagus grandifolia is a large deciduous tree [6] growing to 16–35 metres (52–115 feet) tall, [7] with smooth, silver-gray bark. The leaves are dark green, simple and sparsely-toothed with small teeth that terminate each vein, 6–12 centimetres (2+1⁄4–4+3⁄4 inches) long (rarely 15 cm or 6 in), with a short petiole. The winter twigs are distinctive among North American trees, being long and slender (15–20 millimetres or 5⁄8–3⁄4 inch by 2–3 mm or 3⁄32–1⁄8 in) with two rows of overlapping scales on the buds. Beech buds are distinctly thin and long, resembling cigars; this characteristic makes beech trees relatively easy to identify. The tree is monoecious, with flowers of both sexes on the same tree. The fruit is a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in pairs in a soft-spined, four-lobed husk. It has two means of reproduction: one is through the usual dispersal of seedlings, and the other is through root sprouts, which grow into new trees. [8]

Taxonomy

Trees in the southern half of the range are sometimes distinguished as a variety, F. grandifolia var. caroliniana, but this is not considered distinct in the Flora of North America. The Mexican beech (F. grandifolia subsp. mexicana), native to the mountains of central Mexico, is closely related, and is treated as a subspecies of American beech, but some botanists classify it as a distinct species. The only Fagus species found in the Western Hemisphere (assuming the Mexican subspecies is treated as such), F. grandifolia is believed to have spanned the width of the North American continent all the way to the Pacific coast before the last ice age.

Two subspecies are generally recognized: [3]

ImageScientific nameDistribution
2014-05-11 10 37 00 View of a large American Beech tree from the Old Forge Trail in Clayton Park, Upper Freehold Township, New Jersey.JPG Fagus grandifolia subsp. grandifolia Eastern Canada, east-central United States.
Fagus grandifolia subsp. mexicana en Zacualtipan, Hgo. Mex..JPG Fagus grandifolia subsp. mexicana (Martínez) A.E.MurrayMexico (Tamaulipas to Hidalgo and Puebla).

Etymology

The genus name Fagus is Latin for "beech", and the specific epithet grandifolia comes from grandis "large" and folium "leaf", in reference to the American beech's larger leaves when compared to the European beech. [9]

Distribution and habitat

The American beech is native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida in the United States, as well as the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, and Tabasco in Mexico. [10] Mature specimens are rare in lowland areas as early settlers quickly discovered that the presence of the tree indicated good farmland.

The American beech is a shade-tolerant species, [7] commonly found in forests in the final stage of succession. Few trees in its natural range other than sugar maple match it for shade tolerance. Ecological succession is essentially the process of forests changing their composition through time; it is a pattern of events often observed on disturbed sites. [11] Although sometimes found in pure stands, it is more often associated with sugar maple (forming the beech–maple climax community), yellow birch, and eastern hemlock, typically on moist, well-drained slopes and rich bottomlands. Near its southern limit, it often shares canopy dominance with southern magnolia. Although it has a reputation for slow growth (sometimes only 13 feet in 20 years), rich soil and ample moisture will greatly speed the process up. American beech favours a well-watered, but also well-drained spot and is intolerant of urban pollution, salt, and soil compaction. It also casts heavy shade and is an extremely thirsty tree with high moisture requirements compared to oaks, so it has a dense, shallow root system. [12]

Ecology

The mast (crop of nuts) from American beech provides food for numerous species of animals. Among vertebrates alone, these include various birds [7] including ruffed grouse and wild turkeys, raccoons, [7] foxes, [7] white-tailed deer, [7] rabbits, squirrels, [7] opossums, pheasants, black bears, [7] and porcupines. [7] Beech nuts were one of the primary foods of the now-extinct passenger pigeon; [7] the clearing of beech and oak forests is pointed to as one of the major factors that may have contributed to the bird's extinction. [13] Some Lepidoptera caterpillars feed on beeches. Deer occasionally browse on beech foliage, [7] but it is not a preferred food.

Diseases and pests

Beech bark disease has become a major killer of beech trees in the Northeastern United States. This disease occurs when the European beech scale insect, Cryptococcus fagisuga , attacks the bark, creating a wound that is then infected by Neonectria ditissima or Neonectria faginata , two species of fungi. This causes a canker to develop and the tree is eventually killed. [14]

Beech leaf disease is caused by the nematode Litylenchus crenatae mccannii . It was discovered in Ohio in 2012 and identified as far south as Virginia in 2022. [15] Beech leaf disease causes severe damage to the American beech and also to the related European beech. [16]

The beech leaf-miner weevil, a species native to Europe, has been identified in North America as a cause of defoliation of American beech trees. [17] American beech trees have small gaps and crevices at the base of their trunks in which the pest overwinter before eventually making their way to the buds of the trees and finally laying eggs on the underside of the leaves. [18] Once hatched, the larvae mine the leaves, causing destruction to the foliage.

Beech blight aphids colonize branches of the tree, but without serious harm to otherwise healthy trees. Below these colonies, deposits of sooty mold develop caused by the fungus Scorias spongiosa growing saprophytically on the honeydew the insects exude. This is also harmless to the trees. [19]

Despite their high moisture needs, beeches succumb to flooding easily and their thin bark invites damage from animals, fire, and human activities. Late spring frosts can cause complete defoliation of the tree, although they typically recover by using reserve pools of sugar. [20] The trunks of mature beeches often rot and develop cavities that are used by wildlife for habitation. [21]

Uses

American beech is an important tree in forestry.[ citation needed ] The wood is hard and difficult to cut or split, although at 43 pounds per cubic foot (0.69 g/cm3) it is not exceptionally heavy, and it also rots relatively easily.[ citation needed ] It is used for a wide variety of purposes, most notably bentwood furniture as beech wood easily bends when steamed.[ citation needed ] It also makes high quality, long-burning firewood.

Like European beech bark, the American beech bark is smooth and uniform, making it an attraction for people to carve names, dates, decorative symbols such as love hearts or gang identifiers, and other material into its surface. [22] One such beech tree in Louisville, Kentucky, in what is now the southern part of Iroquois Park, bore the legend "D. Boone kill a Bar 1803." [23] The beech finally fell over in 1916 during a storm; its age was estimated at around 325 years. Its trunk is now on display at the Filson Historical Society.

It is sometimes planted as an ornamental tree, but even within its native area, it is planted much less often than the European beech. Although American beech can handle hotter climates, [24] its European cousin is faster-growing and more pollution-tolerant, in addition to being easier to propagate.[ citation needed ]

American beech does not produce significant quantities of nuts until the tree is about 40 years old. Large crops are produced by 60 years. The oldest documented tree is 246 years old. [25] The fruit is a triangle-shaped shell containing 2–3 nuts inside, but many of them do not fill in, especially on solitary trees. Beech nuts are sweet and nutritious, [7] can be eaten raw by wildlife and humans, [26] or can be cooked. [27] They can also be roasted and ground into a coffee substitute. [7]

The leaves are edible when cooked. [7] The inner bark can be dried and pulverized into bread flour as an emergency food. [7]

In culture

Numerous place names in North America are named Beechwood.

In John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden , a character returns from the Civil War with a wooden leg he carved from beechwood. [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fagaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Fagaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with about 927 species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as evergreen trees and shrubs. They are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like (cupule) nuts. Their leaves are often lobed, and both petioles and stipules are generally present. Their fruits lack endosperm and lie in a scaly or spiny husk that may or may not enclose the entire nut, which may consist of one to seven seeds. In the oaks, genus Quercus, the fruit is a non-valved nut called an acorn. The husk of the acorn in most oaks only forms a cup in which the nut sits. Other members of the family have fully enclosed nuts. Fagaceae is one of the most ecologically important woody plant families in the Northern Hemisphere, as oaks form the backbone of temperate forest in North America, Europe, and Asia, and are one of the most significant sources of wildlife food.

<i>Quercus muehlenbergii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus muehlenbergii, the chinquapinoak, is a deciduous species of tree in the white oak group. The species was often called Quercus acuminata in older literature. Quercus muehlenbergii is native to eastern and central North America. It ranges from Vermont to Minnesota, south to the Florida panhandle, and west to New Mexico in the United States. In Canada it is only found in southern Ontario, and in Mexico it ranges from Coahuila south to Hidalgo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beech</span> Genus of flowering plants in the family Fagaceae

Beech (Fagus) is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Eurasia and North America. There are 13 accepted species in two distinct subgenera, Engleriana and Fagus. The subgenus Engleriana is found only in East Asia, distinctive for its low branches, often made up of several major trunks with yellowish bark. The better known Fagus subgenus beeches are native to Europe and North America. They are high-branching trees with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-grey bark.

<i>Acer rubrum</i> Maple tree native in North America

Acer rubrum, the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant native tree in eastern North America. The red maple ranges from southeastern Manitoba around the Lake of the Woods on the border with Ontario and Minnesota, east to Newfoundland, south to Florida, and southwest to East Texas. Many of its features, especially its leaves, are quite variable in form. At maturity, it often attains a height around 30 m (100 ft). Its flowers, petioles, twigs, and seeds are all red to varying degrees. Among these features, however, it is best known for its brilliant deep scarlet foliage in autumn.

<i>Quercus velutina</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus velutina, the black oak, is a species of oak in the red oak group, native and widespread in eastern and central North America. It is sometimes called the eastern black oak.

<i>Platanus occidentalis</i> Tree native to eastern North America

Platanus occidentalis, also known as American sycamore, American planetree, western plane, occidental plane, buttonwood, and water beech, is a species of Platanus native to the eastern and central United States, the mountains of northeastern Mexico, extreme southern Ontario, and extreme southern Quebec. It is usually called sycamore in North America, a name which can refer to other types of trees in other parts of the world; in the United Kingdom, for example, the name syacamore typically refers to Acer pseudoplatanus. The American sycamore is a long-lived species, typically surviving at least 200 years and likely as long as 500–600 years.

<i>Fagus sylvatica</i> Species of deciduous tree

Fagus sylvatica, the European beech or common beech, is a large, graceful deciduous tree in the beech family with smooth silvery-gray bark, large leaf area, and a short trunk with low branches.

<i>Juglans nigra</i> Species of tree

Juglans nigra, the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central Texas. Wild trees in the upper Ottawa Valley may be an isolated native population or may have derived from planted trees.

<i>Juglans cinerea</i> Species of tree

Juglans cinerea, commonly known as butternut or white walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada.

<i>Fagus orientalis</i> Species of beech

Fagus orientalis, commonly known as the Oriental beech, is a deciduous tree in the beech family Fagaceae. It is native to Eurasia, in Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

<i>Fagus mexicana</i> Species of beech

Fagus mexicana, the Mexican beech or haya, is a species of beech endemic to northeastern and central Mexico, where it occurs from Nuevo León, Tamaulipas south to Hidalgo, Veracruz and Puebla. It is restricted to Tropical montane cloud forests in the Sierra Madre Oriental.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winter moth</span> Species of moth

The winter moth is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is an abundant species in Europe and the Near East and a famous study organism for evaluating insect population dynamics. It is one of very few lepidopterans of temperate regions in which adults are active in late autumn and early winter. The adults use endothermy for movement in these cold temperatures. The females of this species are virtually wingless and cannot fly, but the males are fully winged and fly strongly. After the initial frosts of late fall, the females emerge from their pupae, walk to and up trees and emit pheromones in the evening to attract males. After fertilization, they ascend to lay, on average, around 100 eggs each. Typically, the larger the female moth is, the more eggs she lays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beech bark disease</span> Disease of beech trees

Beech bark disease is a disease that causes mortality and defects in beech trees in the eastern United States, Canada and Europe. In North America, the disease occurs after extensive bark invasion by Xylococculus betulae and the beech scale insect, Cryptococcus fagisuga. Through a presently unknown mechanism, excessive feeding by this insect causes two different fungi to produce annual cankers on the bark of the tree. The continuous formation of lesions around the tree eventually girdles it, resulting in canopy death. In Europe, N. coccinea is the primary fungus causing the infection. Infection in European trees occurs in the same manner as it does in North American trees. Though the disease still appears in Europe, it is less serious today than it once was.

<i>Carya glabra</i> Species of tree

Carya glabra, the pignut hickory, is a common, but not abundant species of hickory in the oak-hickory forest association in the Eastern United States and Canada. Other common names are pignut, sweet pignut, coast pignut hickory, smoothbark hickory, swamp hickory, and broom hickory. The pear-shaped nut ripens in September and October, has a sweet maple like smell, and is an important part of the diet of many wild animals. The wood is used for a variety of products, including fuel for home heating. Its leaves turn yellow in the Fall.

<i>Carya laciniosa</i> Species of tree

Carya laciniosa, the shellbark hickory, in the Juglandaceae or walnut family is also called kingnut, big, bottom, thick, or western shellbark, attesting to some of its characteristics. It is a slow-growing, long-lived tree, hard to transplant because of its long taproot, and subject to insect damage. The nuts, largest of all hickory nuts, are sweet and edible. Wildlife and people harvest most of them; those remaining produce seedling trees readily. The wood is hard, heavy, strong, and very flexible, making it a favored wood for tool handles. A specimen tree has been reported in Missouri with 117 cm (46 in) diameter at breast height, 36.9 m tall, and a spread of 22.6 m.

<i>Carya myristiciformis</i> Species of tree

Carya myristiciformis, the nutmeg hickory, a tree of the Juglandaceae or walnut family, also called swamp hickory or bitter water hickory, is found as small, possibly relict populations across the Southern United States and in northern Mexico on rich moist soils of higher bottom lands and stream banks. Little is known of the growth rate of nutmeg hickory. Logs and lumber are sold mixed with other hickories. The nuts are an oil-rich food for wildlife.

<i>Cryptococcus fagisuga</i> Species of true bug

Cryptococcus fagisuga, commonly known as the beech scale or woolly beech scale, is a felted scale insect in the superfamily Coccoidea that infests beech trees of the genus Fagus. It is associated with the transmission of beech bark disease because the puncture holes it makes in the bark allow entry of pathogenic fungi which have been identified as Nectria coccinea var. faginata and sometimes Nectria galligena.

<i>Cristulariella depraedans</i> Species of fungus

Cristulariella depraedans, commonly known as gray mold spot, sycamore leaf spot or bull's eye spot, is a fungal pathogen that affects maple trees and certain other woody and herbaceous species. In maples, the foliage becomes affected by small grey lesions which expand and coalesce, the leaves later wilting and falling from the tree early. The disease seems to be associated with cool wet summers, and epidemic years sometimes occur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest disturbance by invasive insects and diseases in the United States</span>

Species which are not native to a forest ecosystem can act as an agent of disturbance, changing forest dynamics as they invade and spread. Invasive insects and pathogens (diseases) are introduced to the United States through international trade, and spread through means of natural and human-dispersal. Invasive insects and pathogens are a serious threat to many forests in the United States and have decimated populations of several tree species, including American chestnut, American elm, eastern hemlock, whitebark pine, and the native ash species. The loss of these tree species is typically rapid with both short and long-term impacts to the forest ecosystem.

<i>Neonectria faginata</i> Species of fungus

Neonectria faginata is a species of fungus that affects Beech trees in North America. Neonectria faginata, along with Neonectria ditissima, are the cause of beech bark disease in trees that have already been affected by beech scale Cryptococcus fagisuga.

References

  1. ↑ Barstow, M. (2017). "Fagus grandifolia". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T62004694A62004696. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T62004694A62004696.en . Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  2. ↑ "Fagus grandifolia. NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. - Plants of the World Online". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  4. ↑ Agriculture Handbook. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 1990.
  5. ↑ U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1965. Silvics of forest trees of the United States. H. A. Fowells, comp. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Handbook 271. Washington, DC. 762 p.
  6. ↑ "Trees of the Adirondacks: American Beech | Fagus grandifolia". wildadirondacks.org.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Angier, Bradford (1974). Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 32. ISBN   0-8117-0616-8. OCLC   799792.
  8. ↑ Farahat, Emad; Lechowicz, Martin J. (2013). "Functional Ecology of Growth in Seedlings Versus root Sprouts of Fagus grandifolia Ehrh". Trees. 27 (1): 337–340. Bibcode:2013Trees..27..337F. doi:10.1007/s00468-012-0781-9. S2CID   17109648.
  9. ↑ Hyam, R. & Pankhurst, R.J. (1995). Plants and their names : a concise dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 169, 217. ISBN   978-0-19-866189-4.
  10. ↑ Tubbs, Carl H.; Houston, David R. "Fagus grandifolia E h rh". www.srs.fs.usda.gov. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  11. ↑ Horn, Henry S. (1974). "The Ecology of Secondary Succession". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 5: 25–37. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.05.110174.000325.
  12. ↑ North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Extension Gardener Tool Box, Fagus grandifolia. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, accessed July 9, 2022
  13. ↑ Jon M. Conrad, "Open access and extinction of the passenger pigeon in North America", Natural Resource Modeling, Vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 501–519. 2005
  14. ↑ Reed, Sharon E.; Volk, Daniel; Martin, Danielle K.H.; Hausman, Constance E.; Macy, Tom; Tomon, Tim; Cousins, Stella (January 2022). "The distribution of beech leaf disease and the causal agents of beech bark disease (Cryptoccocus fagisuga, Neonectria faginata, N. ditissima) in forests surrounding Lake Erie and future implications". Forest Ecology and Management. 503: 119753. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119753 .
  15. ↑ Kantor, M.; Handoo, Z.; Carta, L.; Li, S. (1 June 2022). "First Report of Beech Leaf Disease, Caused by Litylenchus crenatae mccannii , on American Beech ( Fagus grandifolia ) in Virginia". Plant Disease. 106 (6): 1764. doi: 10.1094/PDIS-08-21-1713-PDN . PMID   34668402.
  16. ↑ Viaene, Nicole; Ebrahimi, Negin; Haegeman, Annelies; Douda, Ondrej; Bruggen, A. van; Ogris, N.; Sirca, S.; Stare, B. Gerič; Perez-Sierra, A.; Groza, Mariana; Coman, M.; Hurley, M. J.; Lanterbecq, Déborah; Kerkhove, Simon Van; Leroy, Quentin (5 May 2022). "FAGUSTAT: Investigating Beech Leaf Disease, a threat to beech trees and forests in Europe".
  17. ↑ Sweeney, Jonathan D.; Hughes, Cory; Zhang, Honghao; Hillier, N. Kirk; Morrison, Andrew; Johns, Rob (24 April 2020). "Impact of the Invasive Beech Leaf-Mining Weevil, Orchestes fagi, on American Beech in Nova Scotia, Canada". Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. 3: 46. Bibcode:2020FrFGC...3...46S. doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2020.00046 .
  18. ↑ Edwards, Sara; Brodersen, Garrett; Hughes, Cory; Moore, Keegan; Morin, Benoit; Morrison, Andrew; Owens, Emily; Sweeney, Jon; Johns, Rob C. (March 2022). "Relationships between pest density and associated leaf necrosis for an invasive leaf-mining weevil, Orchestes fagi, on American beech (Fagus grandifolia)". Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 52 (3): 301–308. doi:10.1139/cjfr-2021-0104. hdl: 1807/110206 . ISSN   0045-5067. S2CID   238642621.
  19. ↑ "Tom Volk's Fungus of the Month".
  20. ↑ D'Andrea, Ettore; Rezaie, Negar; Battistelli, Alberto; Gavrichkova, Olga; Kuhlmann, Iris; Matteucci, Giorgio; Moscatello, Stefano; Proietti, Simona; Scartazza, Andrea; Trumbore, Susan; Muhr, Jan (October 2019). "Winter's bite: beech trees survive complete defoliation due to spring late-frost damage by mobilizing old C reserves". New Phytologist. 224 (2): 625–631. doi: 10.1111/nph.16047 . PMID   31282591. S2CID   195830424.
  21. ↑ Kitching, R.L. (2000). Food webs and container habitats: the natural history and ecology of phytotelmata. London: Cambridge University Press.
  22. ↑ David Martin, Smooth Bark Compulsion
  23. ↑ Yumpu.com. "the filson club history quarterly - The Filson Historical Society". yumpu.com. Retrieved 2023-06-16.
  24. ↑ Gardening with Native Plants of the South by Sally and Andy Wasowski, p.44
  25. ↑ "Eastern OLDLIST A database of maximum tree ages for Eastern North America". Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research, Inc. & the Tree Ring Laboratory of Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and Columbia University.
  26. ↑ Little, Elbert L. (1980). The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region. New York: Knopf. p. 381. ISBN   0-394-50760-6.
  27. ↑ Elias, Thomas S.; Dykeman, Peter A. (2009) [1982]. Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods. New York: Sterling. pp. 233–34. ISBN   978-1-4027-6715-9. OCLC   244766414.
  28. ↑ Steinbeck, John (1952). East of Eden. Toronto, ON: Bantam Books (published 1962). p. 10.
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