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Beech (genus Fagus) is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted species in two distinct subgenera, Englerianae and Fagus. The subgenus Englerianae is found only in East Asia, distinctive for its low branches, often made up of several major trunks with yellowish bark. The better known species of subgenus Fagus are native to Europe, western and eastern Asia and eastern North America.
The European beech Fagus sylvatica is the most commonly cultivated species, with several ornamental varieties, and forest trees yielding a timber used for furniture, flooring and construction, plywood, and household items. The timber can be used to build homes. Beechwood makes excellent firewood. Slats of washed beech wood are spread around the bottom of fermentation tanks for some beers. Beech logs are burned to dry the malt used in some German . Beech is also used to smoke Westphalian ham, andouille sausage, and some cheeses.
Fagus is the first diverging lineage in the evolution of the Fagaceae family, which includes and . The oldest fossils that can be assigned to the beech lineage are 81–82 million years old pollen from the Late Cretaceous of Wyoming, United States.
The first representatives of the modern-day genus were likely already present in the Paleocene of Arctic North America (western Greenland) and quickly radiated across the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, with a first Biodiversity peak in the Miocene of northeastern Asia. The contemporary species are the product of past, repeated reticulate evolutionary processes (Outcrossing, introgression, hybridization). As far as studied, heterozygosity and intragenomic variation are common in beech species, and their chloroplast genomes are nonspecific with the exception of the Western Eurasian and North American species.
The better known subgenus Fagus beeches are high-branching with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-grey bark. This group includes five extant species in continental and insular East Asia ( Fagus crenata, F. longipetiolata, Fagus lucida, and the cryptic sister species Fagus hayatae and Fagus pashanica), two pseudo-cryptic species in eastern North America ( F. grandifolia, Fagus mexicana), and a species complex of at least four species ( Fagus caspica, F. hohenackeriana, Fagus orientalis, Fagus sylvatica) in Western Eurasia. Their genetics are highly complex and include both species-unique as well as alleles and ribosomal DNA spacers that are shared between two or more species. The western Eurasian species are characterised by morphological and genetical gradients.
| Fagus caspica – Caspian beech | Fagus | New species described in 2024; first-diverging lineage within the Western Eurasian group | Talysh Mountains and Alborz, southeastern Azerbaijan and northern Iran | No mention | |
| Fagus chienii | Fagus | Probably extinct, described from a single location in China (Sichuan). Individuals collected there were morphologically and genetically indistinguishable from F. pashanica. | Yes | ||
| Fagus crenata – Siebold's beech or Japanese beech | Fagus | Japan; in the mountains of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu, down to sea-level in southern Hokkaido. | Yes | ||
| Fagus engleriana – Chinese beech | Englerianae | China; south of the Yellow River | Yes | ||
| Fagus grandifolia – American beech | Fagus | Eastern North America; from E. Texas and N. Florida, United States, to the St. Lawrence River, Canada at low to mid altitudes | Yes | ||
| Fagus hayatae | Fagus | Taiwan; restricted to the mountains of northern Taiwan | Yes | ||
| Fagus hohenackeriana – Caucasian or Hohenacker's beech | Fagus | Dominant tree species of the Pontic and Caucasus Mountains; intermediate between F. caspica and F. orientalis. Its genetic heterogeneity may be indicative for ongoing speciation processes. | Northeastern Anatolia (Pontic Mountains, Kaçkar Mountains) and Caucasus region (Lesser Caucasus and Greater Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia, North Caucasus; down to sea-level in southwestern Georgia) | Yes | |
| Fagus japonica File:Fagus mexicana, Zacualtipán de Ángeles, Hidalgo, Mexico 5737290.jpg | Englerianae | Japan; Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu from sea-level up to c. 1500 m a.s.l. | Yes | ||
| Fagus longipetiolata | Fagus | Sympatry to Parapatry with F. lucida and F. pashanica, and sharing alleles with both species in addition to alleles indicating a sister relationship with the Japanese F. crenata. | China, south of the Yellow River, into N. Vietnam; in montane areas up to 2400 m a.s.l. | Replaced by F. sinensis | |
| Fagus lucida | Fagus | China; south of the Yellow River in montane areas between 800 and 2000 m a.s.l. | Yes | ||
| Fagus mexicana | Fagus | Narrow endemic sister species of F. grandifolia. F. mexicana differs from F. grandifolia by its slender leaves and less-evolved but more polymorphic set of alleles (higher level of Zygosity) | Hidalgo, Mexico; at 1400–2000 m a.s.l. as an element of the subtropical montane mesophilic forest ( bosque mesófilo de montaña) superimposing the tropical lowland rainforests. | Yes | |
| Fagus multinervis | Englerianae | South Korea (Ulleungdo) | Yes | ||
| Fagus orientalis – Oriental beech (in a narrow sense) | Fagus | Southeastern Europe (SE Bulgaria, NE Greece, East Thrace (European Turkey) and adjacent northwestern Asia (NW and N Anatolia) | Yes | ||
| Fagus pashanica | Fagus | China (Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang), at 1300–2300 m a.s.l.(eFlora of China, as F. hayatae) | Yes | ||
| Fagus sinensis | Fagus | China (Hubei), Vietnam | Yes, erroneously used as older synonym of F. longipetiolata | ||
| Fagus sylvatica – European beech | Fagus | Europe | Yes |
| Fagus (×) moesiaca | F. sylvatica × F. orientalis | No evidence so far for hybrid origin. All individuals addressed as F. moesiaca included in genetic studies fell within the variation of F. sylvatica. They may represent a lowland ecotype of F. sylvatica. | Southeastern Balkans |
| F. sylvatica × F. orientalis s.l. | Crimean peninsula |
The common name of "beech" is from the Anglo-Saxon boc, bece or beoce, the German buche, the Swedish box - all meaning "book" as well as beech and derived from the Sanskrit boko or letter and bokos or writings. This connection to "beech" seems to have derived from the fact that the old Runes tablets were of beech wood.
The English Lowlands beech forests is an ecoregion of high-canopy forest dominated by European beech in southeastern England, surviving as remnants such as the New Forest. The species arrived in Britain after the last glaciation, and may have been restricted to basic soils in the south of England. It could have been introduced by Neolithic tribes who planted the trees for their edible nuts. In southeast Wales, the Cwm Clydach National Nature Reserve holds beech woodlands on the western edge of their natural range in a steep limestone gorge. The primeval beech forests of the Carpathians have been dominated since the last ice age by the beech. In North America, beech can form Beech-maple forest, seen by some ecologists as a climax community, by partnering with the sugar maple.
Beech bark disease is a fungal infection of trees in the Eastern US, Canada, and Europe. Following damage caused by the Xylococculus betulae and Cryptococcus fagisuga, the fungi Neonectria faginata and Neonectria ditissima produce cankers each year; these may eventually girdle and kill the tree.
Beech leaf disease is a disease that affects beeches spread by the nematode Litylenchus crenatae mccannii. The disease was discovered in Ohio in 2012. It has spread through the Eastern United States and Canada.
The tallest beech hedge in the world, and the longest hedge in Britain, is the Meikleour Beech Hedge in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.
Spirals of beech wood, its flavour removed with baking soda, are spread inside fermentation tanks for beers such as Budweiser to increase the surface area of the yeast and prevent off-flavours. Beech logs are burned to dry the malt used in German . Beech is also used to smoke Westphalian ham, traditional andouille (an offal sausage) from Normandy, and some .
The pigment bistre was made from beech wood soot. Beech Plant litter raking was used as a replacement for straw in animal husbandry in Switzerland in the 17th century. Beech is one of the 38 plants whose flowers are used to prepare Bach flower remedies. Beech makes an excellent firewood. Some are made from beech. The textile modal is a kind of rayon often made wholly from cellulose extracted from pulped beech wood.holistic-interior-designs.com, Modal Fabric , retrieved 9 October 2011uniformreuse.co.uk, Modal data sheet , retrieved 9 October 2011fabricstockexchange.com, Modal (dictionary entry), retrieved 9 October 2011
In Gallo-Roman religion, Fagus (Latin for "beech") was a god known from four inscriptions found in the Hautes-Pyrénées.Nicole Jufer & Thierry Luginbühl (2001). Les dieux gaulois : répertoire des noms de divinités celtiques connus par l'épigraphie, les textes antiques et la toponymie. Paris: Editions Errance. .
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