365 Urban Species. #313: American Beech

[urbpan]

Photo by urbpan. Location: The Riverway, Boston.

Urban species #313: American beech Fagus grandifola

American beech is much more rare in cities than its European cousin. It is much less tolerant of the stresses of urban life, but can survive for many decades if well-placed. The woodier parts of the Emerald Necklace in Boston contain several scattered American beeches, in between hundreds of European beeches and grand red oaks. Century-old trees, surrounded by dozens of saplings that have sprung from their roots, stand in the thicker margins of the park, far from the road traffic that would compress the soil and starve their roots. The young trees hold on to their dry golden leaves well into winter, providing the bare landscape with patches of foliage. The fruit of beech trees, the beech nut, is an important winter food for many animals, including squirrels, wild turkeys, and others.


Photo of same American beech tree, with suckers (sons of beeches!), taken back in February, by urbpan, for the entry on European beech.

Comments

[treeclimber47.livejournal.com]

Here's a good explanation of how beech bark disease is caused by beech scale and subsequent nectria invasion:
Beech Bark Disease (http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/fidls/beechbark/fidl-beech.htm)

Here are the remains of a Fagus grandiflora that was probably killed by beech bark disease many years ago:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturejournal/127415891/)