Scientific Name
Fagus sylvatica ‘Atropunicea’
This is another European beech cultivar valued for its foliage color rather than its leaf shape or growth habit. The leaves often emerge a coppery green in spring, then shift through shades of pale purple with hints of green to bronze during summer, before turning a coppery red in fall. It offers a remarkable range of color over the growing season.
There is some confusion surrounding the exact lineage of copper beech trees. Many are labeled with the cultivar name ‘Cuprea’ and appear closely related to the purple-leaf forms, making distinctions somewhat unclear.
In most other respects, copper beech closely resembles the standard European beech. It has smooth, light silvery gray bark, pointed conical buds with overlapping scales, and oval leaves with gently scalloped edges. The tree typically develops a low-branching form with a relatively short trunk. The current Colorado champion copper beech stands at 55 feet tall.