European Beech or Fagus Sylvatica is a genus species of trees in the family Fagaceae, indigenous to temperate Europe and North America. It is a tall-growing, pyramidal shaped, broad-leafed tree with a normal lifespan of 150 to 200 years, although sometimes up to 300 years. The Beech is among the largest British trees, particularly when growing on chalky and sandy soil. It might grow to 40 meters in height and spread to 40 meters in diameter, with a trunk 6 meters in girth.

The foliage of beech trees is smooth or sparsely serrated, from 5-15 cm long and 4-10 cm broad. The flowers, wind-pollinated, are little and of single-sex, the female flowers are delivered in pairs, the male flowers catkins are produced in spring short after the newly leaves appear.

The bark is smooth and light-colored gray. The fruit is a small nut 1.0-1.5 cm long, and 0.7-10 cm wide at the base, borne individually or in pairs in soft shells called cupules. The nuts are edible; fagus is from a Greek word implying 'to eat,' referring to the edible quality of the Beechmast, though nuts are bitter with high tannic acid content. It is food for human beings in times of shortage of food or famine.

Beech can grow on an across-the-board array of soils provided they are not soggy. The tree canopy forms a heavy shade, and carpets the earth with heavy leaf cover. The ground vegetation below the tree might be sparse. The Beech most usually raised as an decorative tree is the European Beech (Fagus sylvatica),

Beech wood makes first-class firewood than can be easily split up and burn for several hours. Beech pulp is employed as the foundation for making up a textile fiber called Modal. Chippings of Beech wood also are utilized in the brewing of Budweiser beer as a fining agent.

In a few countries, in rural areas, nuts of the Beech tree are highly prized as food for farm animals: For example in France they feed swine and fattening up domestic turkeys, and pigs. Horses, however, should not be fed on it.

european beech

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The key to successful fruit and nut production is the provision of a beneficial environment for the trees that bear them.