Most trees thrive in sunlight, but as Rosemary explains, the Beech manages quite well in the shadow of others.
Beech trees can tolerate shade well, offer food for wildlife and make for great hiking territory. (Courtesy dhyasama)
One of my favorite local hikes takes me through a beech forest. Many people like these native trees for their smooth elephant gray bark. Others note how valuable their seeds are for wildlife — many species including black bear, wild turkey, and deer use those beech-nuts to fatten up for winter. The other cool thing about these trees in that they often form “pure stands:” one smooth gray trunk after another. Even the under story features little else than baby beech trees.
The main reason for this beech domination is that these trees can totally tolerate shade. Some botanists believe this trait is linked to the tree’s fairly recent (geologically speaking) move into our forests from the tropics. If you’ve ever been to a jungle, you know they are typically quite dense and dark with layers of vegetation. So if a tree comes from a place like that, it has to learn to wait its turn for a shot at the canopy.
Which beech trees do quite well. And interestingly, despite the production of all those nutritious nuts, beech trees propagate themselves mainly through root sprouts. So once a beech gets big enough to shoot up some sprouts, it’ll quickly create a community of like-minded trees. And beech also often grow many side-branches — further shading the forest floor. Few other tree species can get a root-hold in a situation like that.
So it’s not exactly plant warfare, more like the arboreal version of “the best offense is a good defense.” And it’s a nice place to take a hike.
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