Fagus sylvatica seed

LATIN NAME: FAGUS SYLVATICA

COMMON NAME: European Beech

The European beech groves the tall, broad crown with the oval, glossy-green leaves with the wavy edges that turn the rich copper and gold in the autumn and hold on the young trees through the winter, the smooth, grey bark, and the small, triangular beechnuts in the bristly cups. The tree grows into the grand, long-lived forest tree, and the leaves keep the cool, dappled shade. It stands the cold and the wind well, and it likes the sun or the part shade, and the deep, well-drained soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

In the beech family, the European beech holds a leading place in the forest research, and the species appears in the studies of the cool-forest growth and the wood properties. The foresters value the fine, hard timber, while the ecologists note the beechnuts that carry the wildlife through the lean years. The seed biology fills out the picture, and the growers of the grand park trees keep the species in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the park and the woodland, the European beech groves the autumn with the copper. The fine timber serves the furniture, the flooring and the carving for the ages, the beechnuts feed the birds, the squirrels and the people in the lean years, and the smooth, grey bark and the dappled shade give the forest calm. It thrives in the deep, well-drained ground. Grand, cool and long-lived.

To grow the European Beech from seed,

Sow the seeds into the deep, sandy drills of the nursery rows, then cover them well, keep the drills moist, and the seedlings push through within a few weeks

Keep the drills moist through the dry weeks, and shade the young trees in the first summer. They grow steadily into the sturdy saplings.

. Plant the young trees in the deep, well-drained ground, and the copper leaves will grove the autumn over the years.

The Purple Beech is one of our most beautiful trees.
European beech, from which this cultivar was developed, grows to 18 m (60′), but may reach 30 m (100′). The crown has dense foliage.
The smooth glossy leaves are a dark coppery-purple that is often tinged with dark green turning deep spinach green by mid-summer. Leaves are
broadly oval, up to 10 cm (4″) long, with a pointed tip, and 5 to 9 pairs of straight veins that extend to the wavy margins.
Fruit is a prickly husk, up to 2.5 cm (1″) long, on a hairy stem. Inside the husk are 2 to 3 triangular, edible nuts, each about 1.5 cm (5/8″)
long.
Medicinal use of Beech: The bark is antacid, antipyretic, antiseptic, antitussive, expectorant, odontalgic. A tar (or creosote), obtained by
dry distillation of the branches, is stimulating and antiseptic. It is used internally as a stimulating expectorant and externally as an
application to various skin diseases.
Edible parts : Young leaves – raw. A very nice mild flavor, they go well in a mixed salad. However, the leaves quickly become tough so only
the youngest should be used. New growth is usually produced for 2 periods of 3 weeks each year, one in spring and one in mid-summer. Seed –
raw or cooked. A pleasant sweet flavor, though rather small . The seed can also be dried and ground into a powder and then used with cereal
flours when making bread, cakes etc. The seed is rich in oil.
Other uses : A semi-drying oil is obtained from the seed, it is used as a fuel for lighting, as a lubricant, for polishing wood etc. The seed
residue is poisonous. The leaf buds harvested in the winter and dried on the twigs are used as toothpicks. The leaves are gathered in autumn
and used as a stuffing material for mattresses etc