Beech, Fern Leaf

Description:

Fern-leaved beech is a cut leaved cultivar of European beech. It features narrow, lanceolate, feathery, fine textured, fern-like, dark green leaves that are deeply dissected into slender lobes. Leaves turn golden brown in fall. Fern leaved beech is a medium-size, graceful tree with a short trunk and low branching habit. It grows 40 to 60 feet tall and has a dense, erect, oval to rounded crown. The genus name comes from the Latin name and the species name means of the woods or forest. The cultivar name refers to the resemblance of the leaves to spleenwort fern.

European beech, is a large deciduous tree native to woodlands in central and southern Europe. European colonists brought this tree to America in the mid-1700s and it has been a popular ornamental shade tree since that time. European beech is primarily distinguished from the similar American beech by its darker gray bark and shorter leaves that have wavy mostly untoothed margins.