Fagus grandifolia
The Beech is a deciduous tree but the leaves stay on the young trees all winter long. For this reason the old Southern country grandmas called it the "Everleaf". The new leaves literally push last year's leaves off the branch in the spring. Then during the summer the mature trees are a grand combination of leafy green, cement-colored branches and tall trunks. Beech trees benefit the growth of other plants. In the fall the leaves change from green to yellow to bronze and finally to a light tannic orange color.
The three-sided chestnut-colored nuts provide sweet food for animals, birds and humans -- body, mind and spirit. A tree produces nuts every three years. The scientific name, fagus, means to eat in Greek.
You can see layered patterns of tan beech leaves that float at eye level during the winter. They are suspended like clouds among the stark branches of the other hibernating and coniferous species of the forest. Viewed from above the branches have a harmonious zigzag pattern in a beautiful mosaic. Spirit uses the beech to define the spatial volumes of the winter forest and to call attention to the tranquility there.
The mature tree has a trunk like a Grecian Doric column. The wide base of the trunk is stable and strong. The bark color is a light silvery gray with a shimmering presence in the moonlight. These are the trees where young lovers carve their initials. Our word book derives from the Anglo-Saxon beece for Beech.