Range: Eastern Canada and United States.
Soil and location: Prefers a rich, well-drained soil, but will grow in any good soil.
Enemies: Aphides or plant lice that suck the sap from the leaves in spring and early summer are the chief enemies of the tree.
Value for planting: The pleasing color of its bark, its fine spread of branches, which gracefully droop down to the ground, and its autumnal coloring, make the beech a favorite for lawn and park planting. The several European species of beech are equally charming.
Fig. 56.—Bark of the Hackberry.
Commercial value: The wood is strong, close-grained, and tough. It is used mainly for cooperage, tool handles, shoe lasts, chairs, etc., and for fuel.
Other characters: The fruit is a prickly burr encasing a sharply triangular nut which is sweet and edible.
Comparisons: The European beech (Fagus sylvatica), and its weeping, purple-leaved, and fern-leaved varieties, are frequently met with in parks and may be told from the native species by its darker bark. The weeping form may, of course, be told readily by its drooping branches. The leaves of the European beeches are broader and less serrated than those of the American beech.