Beech

Fagus grandifolia

Beech -  a medium to large deciduous tree growing to 100 feet or taller. The bark of beech is smooth and light gray to blue-gray. The leaves are alternate, 2 1/2 - 5 1/2 inches long, with sharp-toothed margins and pointed tips. When mature, the yellowish flowers (April-May) produce spiny fruitlike structures that open late in summer to expose two triangular nuts.

Once a common item on grocery shelves, beechnuts, dried and roasted, were a popular substitute for coffee beans, and a beechnut oil was used in cooking. In parts of the South the emerging leaves served as a potherb. The raw nut itself is sweet and delicious to eat, as not only humans but grouse, squirrels, and other birds and animals know. Because the beech - a tall, handsome tree -grows in loamy soils rich in humus, pioneers who spotted it knew they had found good farmland.

A native tree, the beech has enjoyed a long reputation in America as a source of medicines. The Rappahannock Indians steeped beech bark in saltwater to produce a poison ivy lotion. In Kentucky, beech sap was one ingredient of a syrup compounded to treat tuberculosis. Decoctions of either the leaves or the bark served in folk medicine as an ointment for burns, sores, and ulcers, and when administered internally, as a treatment for bladder, kidney, and liver ailments. A decoction of the root or leaves of beech was believed to cure intermittent fevers, dysentery, and diabetes, while the oil from the nut was given for intestinal worms.

Other names

• American Beech

Parts used

Bark, leaves.

Uses

Beech bark and leaves have astringent and antiseptic properties that account for whatever medicinal effectiveness the plant has. Today beech is valued chiefly for its wood-used in flooring, furniture, crates, and tool handles.

Habitat & cultivation

A native American tree, the beech is found from Nova Scotia to Ontario, south to Florida and eastern Texas, west to Wisconsin and Missouri.

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