| Scientific Name: | Fagus grandifolia |
| Common Name: | American beech |
| Family Name: | Fagaceae |
| Origin: | Canada - eastern, U.S. - northeast |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 3: (-40 to -34 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Tree - deciduous |
| Mature Size: | 22 - 30m x 15 - 25m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Spreading, Twiggy, Upright |
| Form: | Oval - vertical, Round |
| Texture: | Medium |
| Landscape Uses: | Screening, Specimen plant, Street (boulevard tree), Tall background, Wildlife food, Wind break, Woodland margin |
| Exposure: | Full sun, Part sun/part shade, Filtered shade, Deep shade |
| Soil or Media: | Humus rich, Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Simple, Alternate, Leathery, Pinnate venation, Elliptic, Ovate, Serrate |
| Flowers: | Flowers clustered, White, Yellow, Green, Apr |
| Fruit: | Edible, Nut, (Accessory tissue), Brown, Sep-Oct |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Leaves alternate, most ovate, 7-9cm long x 4-5cm wide, tips acuminate, margins wavy, serrate, downward pointing, 9-14 pairs of parallel major veins, petioles about 5mm long; fruit appears like a 4-sided spiky capsule. Winter ID: twigs zig-zagged, only about 2mm wide, buds 8-15mm long x 2-4mm wide, reddish-brown (very similar to European beech); leaf scar off-centred, most crescent shaped with 3 groups of bundle scars. | |