Fagus sylvatica Beech

Fagus sylvatica, Beech, is a tree that is native to Western Europe and a common and familar tree in the British countryside. However, of the trees that recolonised the British landscape after the last ice age, Beech was was one of the latest to arrive. Today it is native to Britain only in the south of England and south-east Wales, often growing on warm, calcareous soils. It is not a native tree in much of Wales west of the Wye Valley and in Glamorgan the only native stands are in the woodlands near Castell Coch, Cardiff.  However, Beech has been planted widely all over Wales and it regenerates freely to produce saplings which colonise and grow quickly in suitable locations. Although Beech grows fairly quickly to produce large trees (some of the largest hardwood trees in Britain), generally it is not particularly long-lived. It is also prone to destructive fungal diseases and the large brackets of the Southern Artist's Fungus (Ganoderma australe), which causes a white-rot of beech wood, is not an uncommon sight. Beech trees grow well on shallow, mineral soils but in those places they are prone to catastrophic wind-throw. Huge, fallen logs, which decay quickly, are a common site in beech woodland. Beech often occurs in dominant stands of large trees which cast a deep shade in summer. In West Galmorgan a good of example of this can be seen in the beautiful beechwoods in Briton Ferry. Such woodlands have very liitle understory structure with few shrubs except small amounts of Holly (Ilex aquifolium). Similarly, the herbaceous ground flora is sparse and few of our familiar woodland herbs are able to survive in the deep shade of our local Beech forests, which lack the specialised orchid floras that are associated with native beechwoods. However, impressive flowering drifts of Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are sometimes found in these woodlands in Spring, before the canopy has developed fully. Spectacular examples of this can be seen in the beechwoods of Craig Gwladys Country Park. Beech woodlands in West Glamorgan support diverse macroscopic fungal communities and beech mast, which can accumulate in large amounts on the ground, is an important source of food for winter flocks of Chaffinch and Brambling. There are a number of cultivated forms of Beech which are planted in parks and urban areas, the most familiar being Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica forma pupurea) which often has striking, dark purple foliage.

Extensively planted and naturalising as a neophyte