Beech

Where it grows

European beech ranges from southern Sweden and Scotland east to the Caucasus and south to Sicily. It tolerates chalk and clay soils and thrives in cool, humid climates with moderate rainfall. Beech forms the climax forest across much of central and western Europe.

How to recognise it

The smooth grey bark of mature beech is one of the most easily recognised in any forest, sometimes nicknamed “the elephant’s hide” for its silvery, slightly wrinkled surface. The pointed, slender buds are cigar-shaped, and the simple oval leaves emerge bronze in spring before turning glossy green, then copper-bronze in autumn. The small triangular beech nuts (mast) sit two to a husk inside a soft spiny case.

Uses

Beech wood is heavy, hard, and tough but does not last outdoors. It is the European standard for kitchen worktops, dining chairs, wooden toys, school desks, and the bent-wood Thonet chairs of Vienna. The dense wood also makes excellent firewood and yields the smoke for traditional Westphalian ham.

Ecology

Beech mast feeds woodland mice, jays, and the wild boar of central European forests, and its deep shade produces the famously bare, leaf-littered understory of mature beech woods.