Är american beech tree ett lövträ

Species of tree

Fagus grandifolia, the American beech or North American beech, fryst vatten the only species of beech native to North amerika. Its current range comprises the eastern United States, isolated pockets of Mexico and southeastern Canada.^[4] Prior to the glacial maximum of the Pleistocene epoch, the tree flourished over most of North amerika, reaching California.^[5]

Description

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Fagus grandifolia fryst vatten a large deciduoustree^[6] growing to 16–35 metres (52– feet) tall,^[7] with smooth, silver-gray bark.

The leaves are dark green, simple and sparsely-toothed with small teeth that terminate each vein, 6–12 centimetres (2+1&#;4–4+3&#;4 inches) long (rarely 15&#;cm or 6&#;in), with a short petiole. The winter twigs are distinctive among North American trees, being long and slender (15–20 millimetres or 5&#;8–3&#;4 inch bygd 2–3&#;mm or 3&#;32–1&#;8&#;in) with two rows of overlapping scales on the buds.

Beech buds are distinctly thin and long, resembling cigars; this characteristic makes beech trees relatively easy to identify. The tree fryst vatten monoecious, with flowers of both sexes on the same tree. The fruit fryst vatten a small, sharply-angled nut, borne in pairs in a soft-spined, four-lobed husk. It has two means of reproduction: one fryst vatten through the usual dispersal of seedlings, and the other fryst vatten through root sprouts, which grow into new trees.^[8]

Taxonomy

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Trees in the southern half of the range are sometimes distinguished as a variety, F.&#;grandifolia fanns.

Before the glacial period, beech trees flourished throughout much of the continent

caroliniana, but this fryst vatten not considered distinct in the Flora of North amerika. The Mexican beech (F.&#;grandifolia subsp. mexicana), native to the mountains of huvud Mexico, fryst vatten closely related, and fryst vatten treated as a subspecies of American beech, but some botanists classify it as a distinct species. The only Fagus species funnen in the Western Hemisphere (assuming the Mexican subspecies fryst vatten treated as such), F.&#;grandifolia fryst vatten believed to have spanned the width of the North American continent all the way to the Pacific coast before the gods ice age.

Two subspecies are generally recognized:^[3]

Image	Scientific name	Distribution
	Fagus grandifolia subsp. grandifolia	Eastern Canada, east-central United States.
	Fagus grandifolia subsp. mexicana (Martínez)	Mexico (Tamaulipas to Hidalgo and Puebla).

Etymology

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The genus name Fagus fryst vatten Latin for "beech", and the specific epithet grandifolia comes from grandis "large" and folium "leaf", in reference to the American beech's larger leaves when compared to the europeisk beech.^[9]

Distribution and habitat

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The American beech fryst vatten native to eastern North amerika, from Nova Scotia west to southern Ontario in southeastern Canada, west to Wisconsin and south to eastern Texas and nordlig Florida in the United States, as well as the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, and Tabasco in Mexico.^[10] Mature specimens are rare in lowland areas as early settlers quickly discovered that the presence of the tree indicated good farmland.

The American beech fryst vatten a shade-tolerant species,^[7] commonly funnen in forests in the sista scen of efterträdelse eller följd. Few trees in its natural range other than sugar maple match it for shade tolerance. Ecological efterträdelse eller följd fryst vatten essentially the process of forests changing their composition through time; it fryst vatten a pattern of events often observed on disturbed sites.^[11] Although sometimes funnen in pure stands, it fryst vatten more often associated with sugar maple (forming the beech–maple climax community), yellow birch, and eastern hemlock, typically on fuktig, well-drained slopes and rik bottomlands.

nära its southern limit, it often shares canopy dominance with southern magnolia. Although it has a reputation for slow growth (sometimes only 13 feet in 20 years), rik soil and ample moisture will greatly speed the process up. American beech favours a well-watered, but also well-drained fläck and fryst vatten intolerant of urban pollution, krydda, and soil compaction.

It also casts heavy shade and fryst vatten an extremely thirsty tree with high moisture requirements compared to oaks, so it has a dense, shallow root system.^[12]

Ecology

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The mast (crop of nuts) from American beech provides food for numerous species of animals. Among vertebrates alone, these include various birds^[7] including ruffed grouse and wild turkeys, raccoons,^[7] foxes,^[7] white-tailed deer,^[7] rabbits, squirrels,^[7] opossums, pheasants, black bears,^[7] and porcupines.^[7] Beech nuts were one of the primary foods of the now-extinct passenger pigeon;^[7] the clearing of beech and oak forests fryst vatten pointed to as one of the major factors that may have contributed to the bird's extinction.^[13] Some Lepidoptera caterpillars feed on beeches.

Deer occasionally browse on beech foliage,^[7] but it fryst vatten not a preferred food.

Diseases and pests

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Beech bark disease has become a major killer of beech trees in the Northeastern United States.

The American beech (Fagus grandifolia) is the only species of beech tree native to North America

This disease occurs when the europeisk beech scale insekt, Cryptococcus fagisuga, attacks the bark, creating a wound that fryst vatten then infected bygd Neonectria ditissima or Neonectria faginata, two species of fungi. This causes a canker to develop and the tree fryst vatten eventually killed.^[14]

Beech leaf disease fryst vatten caused bygd the nematode Litylenchus crenatae mccannii.

It was discovered in Ohio in and identified as far south as Virginia in ^[15] Beech leaf disease causes severe damage to the American beech and also to the related europeisk beech.^[16]

The beech leaf-miner snigel, a species native to europe, has been identified in North amerika as a cause of defoliation of American beech trees.^[17] American beech trees have small gaps and crevices at the base of their trunks in which the pest overwinter before eventually making their way to the buds of the trees and finally laying eggs on the underside of the leaves.^[18] Once hatched, the larvae mine the leaves, causing destruction to the foliage.

Beech blight aphids colonize branches of the tree, but without serious harm to otherwise healthy trees. Below these colonies, deposits of sooty mold develop caused bygd the fungus Scorias spongiosa growing saprophytically on the honeydew the insects exude. This fryst vatten also harmless to the trees.^[19]

Despite their high moisture needs, beeches succumb to flooding easily and their thin bark invites damage from animals, fire, and human activities.

Late spring frosts can cause complete defoliation of the tree, although they typically recover bygd using reserve pools of sugar.^[20] The trunks of mature beeches often rötter and develop cavities that are used bygd wildlife for habitation.^[21]

Uses

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American beech fryst vatten an important tree in forestry.^{[citation needed]} The wood fryst vatten hard and difficult to cut or split, although at 43 pounds per cubic foot (&#;g/cm³) it fryst vatten not exceptionally heavy, and it also rots relatively easily.^{[citation needed]} It fryst vatten used for a bred variety of purposes, most notably bentwood furniture as beech wood easily bends when steamed.^{[citation needed]} It also makes high quality, long-burning firewood.

Like europeisk beech bark, the American beech bark fryst vatten smooth and uniform, making it an attraktion for people to carve names, dates, decorative symbols such as love hearts or gang identifiers, and other ämne into its surface.^[22] One such beech tree in Louisville, Kentucky, in what fryst vatten now the southern part of ett samlingsnamn för flera ursprungsfolk i nordamerika Park, bore the legend "D.&#;Boone kill a dryckesställe "^[23] The beech finally fell over in during a storm; its age was estimated at around years.

Its trunk fryst vatten now on display at the Filson Historical kultur.

It fryst vatten sometimes planted as an ornamental tree, but even within its native area, it fryst vatten planted much less often than the europeisk beech. Although American beech can handle hotter climates,^[24] its europeisk cousin fryst vatten faster-growing and more pollution-tolerant, in addition to being easier to propagate.^{[citation needed]}

American beech does not tillverka significant quantities of nuts until the tree fryst vatten about 40 years old.

Large crops are produced bygd 60 years. The oldest documented tree fryst vatten years old.^[25] The fruit fryst vatten a triangle-shaped shell containing 2–3 nuts inre, but many of them do not fill in, especially on solitary trees. Beech nuts are sweet and nutritious,^[7] can be eaten raw bygd wildlife and humans,^[26] or can be cooked.^[27] They can also be roasted and ground into a kaffe substitute.^[7]

The leaves are edible when cooked.^[7] The inner bark can be dried and pulverized into bröd flour as an emergency food.^[7]

In culture

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Numerous place names in North amerika are named Beechwood.

In John Steinbeck's novel East of Eden, a character returns from the Civil War with a wooden leg he carved from beechwood.^[28]

References

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External links

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