How to Identify the American Beech

A beech commonly refers to trees of the genus Fagus  that are named for a god of the beech trees recorded in Celtic mythology, especially in Gaul and the Pyrenees. Fagus is a member of the larger family named  Fagaceae which also includes the Castanea chestnuts, the Chrysolepis chinkapins and the numerous and grand Quercus oaks. There are  10  separate beech species native to temperate Europe and North America. The American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is the only species of beech tree native to North America but one of the most common. 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 in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys and may attain ages of 300 to 400 years. They typically reach heights of 50 feet to 80 feet. North Americas native beech is found in the east within an area from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and  Maine. The range stretches through southern Quebec, southern Ontario, northern Michigan, and has a western northern limit in eastern Wisconsin. The range then turns south through southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri, northwestern Arkansas, southeastern Oklahoma, and eastern Texas and turns east to northern Florida and northeast to southeastern South Carolina. A variety also exists in the mountains of northeastern Mexico. Identification American beech is a good looking tree with tight, smooth and skin-like light gray bark. Beech trees are often seen in parks, on campuses, in cemeteries and larger landscapes, usually as an isolated specimen. Beech tree bark has suffered the carvers knife through the ages. From Virgil to Daniel Boone, men have marked territory and carved the trees bark with their initials. Ed Reschke / Getty Images The leaves of beech trees are alternate with entire or sparsely toothed leaf margins with straight parallel veins and on short stalks. The flowers are small and single-sexed (monoecious) and the female flowers are borne in pairs. The male flowers are borne on globose heads hanging from a slender stalk, produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear. Leaves and fruit from American Beech tree. Matthew Ward / Getty Images The beechnut fruit is a small, sharply three-angled nut, borne singly or in pairs in soft-spined husks known as cupules. The nuts are edible, though bitter with a high tannin content, and are called beech mast which is edible and a favorite wildlife food. The slender buds on twigs are long and scaly and a good identification marker. Dormant Identification Often confused with birch, hophornbeam, and ironwood, American beech  has long narrow scaled buds (vs. short scaled buds on birch.) The bark is gray and smooth and has no catkins. There are often root suckers that surround old trees and these older trees have human-looking roots. American beech is most often found on moist slopes, in ravines, and atop moist hammocks. The tree loves loamy soils but will also thrive in clay. It will grow on elevations up to 3,300 feet and will often be in groves in a mature forest. Best Tips Used to Identify American Beech The bark is uniquely gray and very smooth.The leaves are dark green with ovate to elliptic  with a pointed tip.The side leaf veins off the midrib are always parallel to each other.Each of these side veins will  have a distinctive point. Other North American Hardwoods ash:  Genus  Fraxinus  basswood:  Genus Tilia  birch:  Genus  Betula  black cherry:  Genus  Prunus  black walnut/butternut:  Genus  Juglans  cottonwood:  Genus  Populus  elm: Genus  Ulmus  hackberry:  Genus  Celtis  hickory:  Genus  Carya  holly:  Genus  IIex  locust: Genus  Robinia  and  Gleditsia  magnolia:  Genus  Magnolia  maple:  Genus  Acer  oak:  Genus  Quercus  poplar:  Genus  Populus  red alder:  Genus  Alnus  royal paulownia:  Genus  Paulownia  sassafras:  Genus  Sassafras  sweetgum:  Genus  Liquidambar  sycamore:  Genus  Platanus  tupelo: Genus  Nyssa  willow: Genus  Salix  yellow poplar:  Genus  Liriodendron