Beech european seeds

European beech or common beech / Fagus sylvatica - tree height 20-25 m, trunk thickness up to 2 m. The trunk is smooth, covered with a thin layer of gray bark. Leaves are deciduous, simple, entire or with sparse serrations, oval or oval-oblong, 5-15 cm long and 4-10 cm wide. In a beech, which has a dense crown of whole-leaved leaves, the upper branches shade the lower ones so much that the latter, not having the access of light necessary for photosynthesis, gradually die off and fall off. As a result, the beech tree in the forest almost to the very top is devoid of branches, and its crown is supported, as it were, by bare pillars. This property is typical for all species of the genus Beech, as well as for many other trees growing in close proximity.

Kidneys are elongated (often more than 2.5 cm), scaly, appear in winter. Flowering in spring, simultaneously with the unfolding of leaves. The flowers are unisexual, collected in catkins, pollinated by the wind. The fruits are acorn-shaped, trihedral, 10-15 mm long, with a woody shell, collected in pairs or four pieces in a 4-lobed shell, called a plush. The fruits are called «beech nuts» - they are edible, although they contain a large amount of bitter-tasting tannin and may contain the poisonous alkaloid fagin, which decomposes when roasted.

Beeches reproduce by seed, although the shallow and branched root system sometimes produces side shoots from which a young tree can grow.

When constructing artificial landscapes, both single plantings and large arrays in parks and forest parks are used. Due to their dense foliage and resistance to shaping, beeches are often used to build hedges.

High-quality light yellow edible oil is obtained from nuts, NOT inferior to Provence. It is used in the food and confectionery industry. Technical oil is obtained by another processing method. The mass remaining after squeezing is used to make a coffee surrogate, and in boiled form - to feed farm animals. Forest dwellers willingly eat beech nuts: wild boars, roe deer, squirrels, etc.

Nuts are very nutritious: they contain up to 50 percent of oil, and in addition, proteins, sugars, malic and citric acid, vitamin E. Residents of those places where many beech trees grow make flour from peeled and necessarily toasted nuts. Adding a small amount of wheat flour to it, they bake excellent pancakes, pancakes, crumbly cookies.