Native Trees

Beech

Fagus sylvatica


Dormant twig    

 The Beech is one of the largest and most imposing broad leaved trees native to Europe. It is easily distinguished by its silver-grey bark and smooth, towering, upright trunk. A fully grown tree can attain a height of 100 feet. 

The beech has distinctive long, slender buds that grow alternately along the twig.

The beech favours chalk soils, it is native to mixed broad-leaved forests in the south of England. It is not as well adapted as the oak to the harsher weather of the north, possibly because it has a shallower root system.


Beech leaf
Male and female catkins 
    
                  Beech mast

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