Botanical Name: Fagus sylvatica
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Common Name: European Beech  
Plant photo of: Fagus sylvatica
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Water Saving Tip:

Water-wise plants can be beautiful as well as practical.

Take your 'My List' Hydrozone Report to a landscape designer, or local nursery, when selecting and purchasing plants.

  • Anatomy

  • Culture

  • Design

Plant Type

Tree

 

Height Range

40-60'

 

Flower Color

Yellow

 

Flower Season

Spring

 

Leaf Color

Dark Green

 

Bark Color

Grey

 

Fruit Color

Brown

 

Fruit Season

Fall

Information by: Stephanie Duer
Photographer: JJ Neilson Arboretum
  • Description

  • Notes

European beech is a large deciduous tree growing 50 to 60 feet tall and 30 to 50 feet wide, with a dense, upright-oval to rounded-spreading crown. Trunks have distinctive bark that is thin, smooth, and gray. Leaves are oval and a lustrous green with wavy margins and prominent parallel veins. Foliage turns golden bronze in fall. Flowers are insignificant, but followed by triangular nuts enclosed by spiny bracts. Beechnuts ripen in fall and are edible. Many cultivars are available in commerce in a variety of different forms, leaf shapes and leaf colors.