Scientific Name
Fagus sylvatica 'Riversii'
European beech is one of the wonderfully common forest trees native to most of that continent, except for its hottest and driest areas. There is a beech species native to much of the eastern U.S., but it’s difficult to grow here, preferring acidic soil and a gentler, more humid climate. It’s almost always the European beech that we encounter here because of its adaptability and because it’s offered in a number of attractive cultivars that vary in form, leaf color and shape, among other traits. The ‘Rivers’ beech was selected for purple foliage, though the color generally lightens as the growing season progresses. Beech typically grows here to around 50 feet in height, with a spread almost as great, provided it’s not hemmed in by competing trees. The Regis specimen is the largest of the purple-leaf beech trees in Colorado, recently measured at 43 feet tall. Beech trees are somewhat slow-growing but very long-lived, with 300 or even 500 years possible in native habitat.
Two of the most notable features of beech trees are their smooth gray trunks, even on mature trees, and the very thin, pointy buds with numerous overlapping scales. The twigs take a slightly zigzag course, and the lower branches sometimes angle out and downward to sweep the ground. Because of this characteristic, along with the dense foliage and large surface roots, very little can grow underneath a mature beech tree. The fruit of a European beech is a bristly husk that contains two nuts and can provide major food value to wildlife. As is the case with many long-lived trees, the beech may not begin to flower and produce seed until it is well over 30 years old. In the fall, beech foliage is fairly late to color, with a golden yellow or burnt-orange hues being most common. Like their close relatives, the oaks, beech trees — especially when young — often retain their leaves well into the winter, particularly on the lower branches. As with oak leaves, fallen beech leaves take much longer than those of many other tree species to decay and return to the soil.