BEECH

28th February 2024

QUOTATION

A pretty brown wench ‘tis. There was a time

When young men went a-hunting, and a wood,

And a broad beech - and thereby hangs a tail.

Heigh ho!

ARCITE: Two Noble Kinsmen, Act 3, Scene 3

BEECH (Fagus sylvatica)

There is only one mention of the Beech in all of Shakespeare’s works.

John Gerard (1597) tells us that ‘the Beech tree loveth a plaine and open country, and groweth very plentifully in many forests, and desart places of Sussex, Kent, and sundry other countries’, also that the mast (Beech nuts) ‘with these mice and Squirrels are greatly delighted, who do mightily increase by feeding thereon: Swine also be fattened herewith, and certaine other beasts: also Deere doe feed thereon very greedily: they be likewise pleasant to thrushes and pigeons.’

The Beech was one of the last trees to recolonise Britain after the last Ice Age. It is now found throughout Britain.

More Information

BSBI Plant Atlas 2020: Beech

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Gerard, J. 1597 The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes (1636 edition accessed via Archive.org)

Woodland Trust: Beech

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