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Fagus crenata Blume

Japanese Beech

Modern name

Fagus crenata Blume

Synonyms

F. sylvatica var. sieboldii (A.DC.) Maxim.; F. sieboldii A.DC.; F. sylvatica var. asiatica A.DC., in part

A tree up to about 100 ft high. Leaves ovate to rhomboidal, the base tapered rounded or slightly heart-shaped, the apex pointed, 2 to 4 in. long, 1 to 214 in. wide, silky hairy on the veins beneath, margins wavy, edged with fine hairs, veins in seven to eleven pairs; leaf-stalk 14 to 38 in. long. Husks about 58 in. long, furnished with long bristles, those near the base enlarged into linear or spathulate appendages; peduncles stout, thick, somewhat downy, about 12 in. long.

Native of Japan, where it forms considerable forests. The tree itself and its timber are similar in most respects to the common beech. Botanically it differs chiefly in the leaflike appendages attached to the base of the husk; the latter is also more truncate at the base than in F. sylvatica. F. crenata is also closely allied to F. orientalis (q.v. for the marks of difference).

F. crenata is not common in cultivation but two trees at Kew are referred to it. One, pl. 1910, is 34 × 212 ft and the other, pl. 1921, 30 × 2 ft (1969).



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Kew, pl. 1910, 46 × 314 ft (1984); Petworth House, Sussex, 60 × 734 ft and 68 × 614 ft (1983); Thorp Perrow, Bedale, Yorks., 52 × 334 ft (1981); Birr Castle, Co. Offaly, Eire, 76 × 412 ft (1975).

Genus

Fagus

Other species in the genus