| Scientific Name: | Fagus sylvatica Atropurpurea Group |
| Common Name: | copper beech, purple beech |
| Family Name: | Fagaceae |
| Origin: | Europe |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 5: (-29 to -23 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Tree - deciduous |
| Mature Size: | 15 - 22m x 10 - 15m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Upright |
| Form: | Pyramidal - widely |
| Texture: | Medium - coarse |
| Landscape Uses: | Fall interest, Shade tree, Specimen plant, Street (boulevard tree), Summer interest |
| Exposure: | Full sun |
| Soil or Media: | Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Simple, Alternate, Soft flexible, Heavily veined, Pinnate venation, Glabrous, Elliptic, Ovate, Undulate (wavy) |
| Flowers: | Catkin (ament), Red, Apr-May |
| Fruit: | Edible, Nut, (Accessory tissue) |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Leaves alternate, broadly elliptic, most blades 4-7cm long x 3-5cm wide, dark red to dark purple, turning red-copper in fall, glossy, margins entire, undulate, and often ciliate; fruit capsule-like, brown, bristly. Winter ID: bark smooth, silver-grey, with a horizontal pattern (like an elephant's leg); buds narrowly conical, most 1-2.5cm long x 4-5mm wide, pointed, spear-like, divergent, reddish-brown with grey fuzz. | |