American Beech – Fagus grandifolia – Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards

American beech – witness tree — American beech - witness tree

American beech – holding leaves in winter — American beech - holding leaves in winter

American beech – bud — American beech - bud

American beech – bud break — American beech - bud break

American beech – bud elongating — American beech - bud elongating

American beech – mini leaves and clusters of male flowers — American beech - mini leaves and clusters of male flowers

American beech – lots of filaments and anthers — American beech - lots of filaments and anthers

American beech – glimpse of female flower — American beech - glimpse of female flower

American beech – fall color — American beech - fall color

American beech – several fall leaves — American beech - several fall leaves

Plant Characteristics:

Tree: up to 120 ft tall
Bark: smooth gray
Twigs: slender, shiny brown, slightly zig-zagged
Buds: sharply pointed about 1 in long
Leaves: deciduous, alternate, simple and egg shaped
Fall Foliage: copper, yellow, beige
Flowers: male flowers yellow-green, female flowers in pairs on a short stem
Fruit type: nut (3 angled) inside slightly prickly 4-sided bur

Additional Details:

Nuts are delicious roasted and eaten whole or ground into flour. Crushed kernels will produce an oil similar to olive oil.
Nuts are eaten by ruffed grouse, wild turkey, squirrel, black bear, and racoon.
Native americans chewed nuts as a worm expellent.
Leaf tea is a wash for burns, frostbite, or poison-ivy rash.
Larval host to the Early Hairtstreak (Erora laeta).

Marcescence: The leaves are marcescent on the American beech, especially on younger trees. Marcescence occurs when any plant part dies but does not prop from the plant. Although no one knows why this marcescence occurs, here are some hypotheses:

Leaves when dropped in the spring will provide a fresh layer of mulch or preserve soil moisture.
Leaves provide cover for birds in winter winds.
Leaves prevent deer browse and protect new buds.

References:
Brown, R. and M. Brown. 1972. Woody Plants of Maryland. Port City Press, Baltimore, MD.
Foster, S. and J. Duke. 1990. A field guide to medicinal plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Grimm, W. C. and J. Kartesz. 2002. The Illustrated Book of Trees. Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, PA.
Harris, J. and M. Woolf Harris. 1994. Plant Identification Terminology: An illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, UT.
Kling A. 2022. The Mystery of Marcescence. Branching out, Vol. 30, No.1 (Winter 2022). University of Maryland Extension, MD.
Peterson, L. 1977. A field guide to edible wild plants of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Virginia Department of Forestry. 2022. Common Native Trees of Virginia – Tree Identification Guide.
The Wildflower Center Staff. 2023. Plant Database. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The University of Texas at Austin.