Synonym(s): Fagus americana, Fagus ferruginea, Fagus grandifolia ssp. heterophylla, Fagus grandifolia var. caroliniana
Image ID: 8350
Image by: Parkins, Grant Morrow
Image Collection: NCBG Digital Library
PLANT INDEX
ID_PLANT: FAGR
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Fagus grandifolia
Include in WOTAS: 0
Publish to Web: 1
Last Modified: 2019-11-30
GENUS INDEX
GENUS CODE: FAGUS GENUS SCIENTIFIC:Fagus GENUS AUTHORITY: L. GENUS COMMON: Beech GENUS SUMMARY: A genus of about 10 species, trees, of temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Our native trees belong to subgenus Fagus, section Grandifolia (Shen 1992). GENUS IDENTIFICATION: GENUS REFERENCES: Cooper & Mercer (1977)=Z; Nixon in FNA (1997); Shen (1992)=X; Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Elias (1971a)=Y; Stanford (1998); Govaerts & Frodin (1998)=V.
FAMILY INDEX
FAMILY CODE: FAGACE FAMILY SCIENTIFIC:Fagaceae FAMILY AUTHORITY: Dumortier 1829 FAMILY COMMON: Beech Family FAMILY SUMMARY: A family of about 8 genera and 620-1050 species, trees and shrubs, mostly of the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into se. Asia and Australia. FAMILY REFERENCE: Nixon in FNA (1997); Govaerts & Frodin (1998); Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Elias (1971a).
NCBG DESCRIPTIVES
INTRO: STEMS:Pith continuous. Young twigs (1-year-old or less) brown or green or olive-green or orange or red or reddish-brown or tan, glabrate or pubescent. Twigs (2–4 years old) glabrous or pubescent. Leaf scars half-round, bundle scars 3–9 per leaf scar, stipule scars present, stipule scars circumferential or not circumferential. Bark of mature trunks smooth. Buds axillary or pseudoterminal or terminal, brown or reddish-brown, 10–25 mm long, fusiform or lanceoloid, sharp, pubescent,puberulent,budscales imbricate. LEAVES: Leaves deciduous,simple,petiolate,alternate, 6–15 cm long, 2.5–8 cm wide, obovate or oval or ovate,leaf margins serrate or serrulate,leaf apices acuminate or acute,leaf bases cordate or cuneate or obtuse or rounded. Leaf upper surface blue-green or green, glabrous or glabrate. Leaf lower surface green or yellow-green, glabrate or pubescent or with tufts in vein axils, pilose or puberulent or villous. Leaf venation pinnate,secondary veins on either side of the midvein 9–14. Petioles 0.4–1.6 cm long, glabrous or pubescent. Stipules present, 20–40 mm long, caducous,circumferential or not circumferential. INFLORESCENCE: Inflorescences axillary or terminal, fascicles or heads or spikes, flowers sessile or stalked. FLOWERS: Flowers unisexual or pistillate or staminate, epigynous. Perianth. Calyx radially symmetric,aposepalous or synsepalous. Sepals 4–8 per flower. Corolla absent. Androecium. Stamens 6–16 per flower, separate. Gynoecium. Ovaries inferior, pistils 1 per flower. Gynoeciumsyncarpous, 3 carpels per flower, styles 3 per pistil,placentation axile. Other floral features. Hypanthia present, involucres present. FRUITS: Fruits nuts, 1.2–2.2 cm long, brown or reddish-brown, fruit maturation 1 years. COMMENTS: Leaves with straight, unbranched, lateral veins, each ending in a tooth at the leaf margin; old yellowish brown to tan leaves often persist on branches through the winter; fruits are enclosed by prickly bracts that split open at the end of the summer revealing the 2 or 3, small, 3-angled nuts. HEIGHT: 50-80 feet DURATION:
Perennial
HABIT:
Tree
LEAF ARRANGEMENT:
Alternate LEAF COMPLEXITY:
Simple LEAF RETENTION:
Deciduous FLORAL CHARACTERISTICS
SYMMETRY:
BLOOM TIME: February - May
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
x
x
x
x
BLOOM COLOR:
White
Red
Pink
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Lavender
Purple
Violet
Brown
Not Applicable
x
x
x
FRUITING PERIOD: Sep-Oct. DISTRIBUTION
HABITAT TYPE: Bottomlands, Moist forests
NATIVE RANGE: eastern North America HORTICULTURAL
Plant Sale Text: Fagus grandifolia is commonly found growing in moist mature forests and is easily identified by its thin, smooth gray bark. This long-lived tree is host to over 100 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and provide high protein seeds (triangular nuts enclosed in spiny bracts) critical to the diets of many mammals and birds. This species forms an oval to rounded canopy overtime and performs well in full shade.
This information is derived from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2016 National Wetland Plant List, Version 3.3 (Lichvar, R.W., D.L. Banks, W.N. Kirchner, and N.C. Melvin. 2016. The National Wetland Plant List: 2016 wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 2016-30: 1-17. Published 28 April 2016. ISSN 2153 733X). Regions: AGCP-Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain, AK-Alaska, AW-Arid West, CB-Caribbean, EMP-Eastern Mountains and Piedmont, GP-Great Plains, HI-Hawaii, MW-Midwest, NCNE-Northcentral and Northeast, WMCV-Western Mountains, Valleys & Coast
WEAKLEY FLORA
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Fagus grandifolia var. grandifolia
COMMON NAME: Gray Beech, Red Beech, American Beech
SYNONYMY: [= C, F, G, Y; < F. grandifolia - FNA, K1, K2, Mo, Pa, RAB, S, Va, W, WV, Z; < F. grandifolia ssp. grandifolia - V; = F. grandifolia ssp. grandifolia - X]
PHENOLOGY: Apr-May; Sep-Oct.
HABITAT: Moderate to high elevation forests, especially on high elevation ridges, gaps, and open slopes, often forming clonal dwarfed thickets in the most exposed situations.
COMMENTS: NS, NB, and s. QC west to s. ON and n. MI, south to VA, w. NC, n. GA, e. TN, and n. OH. Red beech is alleged to differ from gray beech in having the involucral segments not covering the nutlets at maturity. Hardin & Johnson (1985), Hardin (1985), and Shen (1992) point out that var. mexicana (Martínez) Little, of the mountains of México, is more closely related to our montane variety or phase than to the lower elevation variety or phase.
RANGE MAP: Fagus grandifolia var. grandifolia.png
Key to Map SymbolsABOUT FAMILY (Weakley Flora) Fagaceae Dumortier 1829 (Beech Family) SUMMARY: A family of about 8 genera and 620-1050 species, trees and shrubs, mostly of the Northern Hemisphere, but extending into se. Asia and Australia. REFERENCE: Nixon in FNA (1997); Govaerts & Frodin (1998); Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Elias (1971a).ABOUT GENUS (Weakley Flora) Fagus L. (Beech) SUMMARY: A genus of about 10 species, trees, of temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Our native trees belong to subgenus Fagus, section Grandifolia (Shen 1992). REFERENCE: Cooper & Mercer (1977)=Z; Nixon in FNA (1997); Shen (1992)=X; Kubitzki in Kubitzki, Rohwer, & Bittrich (1993); Elias (1971a)=Y; Stanford (1998); Govaerts & Frodin (1998)=V.
HERBARIUM RESOURCES
SERNEC: Find Fagus grandifolia in Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available) UNC SERNEC: Find Fagus grandifolia in
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Herbarium - Southeast Regional Network of Experts and Collections (if available)