American beech

American beech trees are a ghostly presence in winter.  Their leaves persist until expansion of new buds pushes them off in early spring.

Shade-tolerant, young beeches became established and persist as saplings in the understory of mixed hardwood forests in the Piedmont of the Southeastern U.S., and maybe elsewhere, too.

beeches near the old sawmill in the Schoenike Arboretum, SC Botanical Garden

In a mild winter, other hardwood species retain their leaves, too.  Ironwood (Carpinus caroliniana), also known as musclewood or American hornbeam, is a beech look-alike in winter guise this year along the stream near Crucible, apart from the distinctive long buds signifying beech.

There are a lot more beech saplings in the understory today than were present five years ago -- it's something I've noticed particularly this winter.

I'm thinking that the easing of the decade-long drought might have encouraged a 'cohort' of establishment (first seedlings and now saplings) in the understory of our mixed hardwood forests, where seed-producing beeches were nearby. 

This is evident both in woodland/forest areas near the Meditation Garden, as well as beyond the powerline corridor, where the photo (above) was taken (adjacent to the beech grove).

Winter beeches

Have you ever wondered about our hardwood forests in winter?


American beech trees retain their leaves, giving the successional forests in the Garden a ghostly appearance. Beeches are abundant in the understory of hardwood forests throughout the Upstate; shade-tolerant beeches have regenerated in the lower light levels of maturing forest. Lack of periodic natural fire is another reason that beeches are common where they didn't used to be; fire damages their thin bark, killing young (and old) trees.

The dead leaves are shed as the new leaves expand in spring.