On The Beech

© 2022 Paul Erickson, COSMOS Science Editor

On April 8, 2022, Gloucester residents gathered at the Sawyer Free Public Library to pay their respects to an old friend—a beloved, century-old beech tree. The massive icon, weakened by disease, had become a safety hazard for anyone wandering under its branches.

Today plenty of beeches exist in the yards and woodlands around the greater Cape Ann area, including a number of elephantine giants. Here we refer to the beech genus in general, which, locally, includes both the American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) and the European Beech (Fagus sylvatica). Some of our truly enormous beeches are the European species.

My inspiration to write about beeches crystallized on a scorching August afternoon. I found refreshing refuge under the shade of a massive old beech— actually two entwined beeches—part of Beverly’s Long Hill Garden, a popular Trustees of Reservations destination. It was a place of restorative coolness.

Beech trees are easy to spot. In summer, look for their lime-green, oval leaves as long as six inches, each with a pointed tip. And you might have observed, often the smooth, dove-gray bark of mature beeches has been etched with traces of historical romances.

When milled into lumber, beech trees are not as valuable as oak, maple, and birch. (Although their flexible wood is popular among woodworkers crafting bentwood furniture). The fat-rich beechnuts are an important food for grouse, turkey, fisher, deer, and black bear. Long ago, the nuts were a favorite food of the now-extinct passenger pigeon.

Beeches are still abundant in our woodlands. Yet, the old giants—now local icons of private and public spaces—are threatened by beech bark disease. The infection sets in when the invasive beech bark scale insect (Cryptococcus fagisuga) wounds the tree and the insect’s fungal partners in arboreal crime can sneak in.

With looming disease in mind, Cape Ann COSMOS humbly suggests that you seek out the most spectacular beeches in your area—to admire while enjoying some cool time in their shade.

The loss of Gloucester’s Sawyer Library’s marvelous tree reminds us that the most gargantuan Fagus specimens will not stand forever. As Joni Mitchell once reminded us, “ . . . you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

Most beeches depicted here are from Beverly, Hamilton, Ipswich, and Rowley, Jamaica Plains Massachusetts.

European Beech (Fagus sylvatica)

Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts

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