Trees and leaves · European Beech
Recognising a European Beech
Grey and smooth: Flauschi studies the beech trunk. Puschel looks for little beechnuts. Where are they hiding?
The short answer
A beech leaf is oval with a pointed tip. Its edge is usually gently wavy. European beech bark is often strikingly smooth and grey – unlike the deeply furrowed bark of an old oak.
An imagined Wusel scene
Puschel and Flauschi investigate
Puschel finds an oval leaf and wants to name the tree. Flauschi checks the trunk with him. Its smooth grey bark matches their beech picture. They record leaf and bark together in a sketch.
The leaf
A beech leaf is oval with a pointed tip. Its edge is usually gently wavy.
The bark
European beech bark is often strikingly smooth and grey – unlike the deeply furrowed bark of an old oak.
The fruit
Beechnuts are small three-sided nuts. Usually two sit together inside a prickly fruit husk.
Mini quiz
What do you remember?
1. Which fruit belongs to a beech?
Choose one answer: a), b) or c).
- a)Beechnut
- b)Acorn
- c)Maple wing
Show answer
Correct answer: a): Beechnut Beechnut
2. What does beech bark often look like?
Choose one answer: a), b) or c).
- a)Smooth and grey
- b)Deeply furrowed
- c)White and papery
Show answer
Correct answer: a): Smooth and grey Smooth and grey
3. What shape is a typical beech leaf?
Choose one answer: a), b) or c).
- a)Oval with a pointed tip
- b)Needle-shaped
- c)Five large fingers
Show answer
Correct answer: a): Oval with a pointed tip Oval with a pointed tip
Word help
- photosynthesis
- Green plants use light to make sugar from water and carbon dioxide. They release oxygen in the process.
- carbon dioxide
- A gas in air. Green plants use it with water and light to make sugar. People and animals breathe it out.
Explore in more detail
Here you will find longer explanations and further details. You can explore them together.
Three tree clues
What happens beneath the leafy canopy?
Many beech leaves together intercept much of the sunlight, making the woodland floor quite dark in summer. Leaves use light, water and carbon dioxide to make sugar. This is photosynthesis. The tree uses sugar to build new wood and leaves, among other things.
Compare and understand
Before the canopy fills out in spring, more light reaches the ground. Early flowers such as wood anemones use this opportunity. The common beech is a species; purple-leaved copper beeches are forms of it. Ordinary common beeches have green summer leaves.