Identity
Category :
Arbre remarquable
Latin name :
Fagus sylvatica
French name :
Hêtre commun, hêtre d’Europe
Dutch name :
Beuk
English name :
European beech, common beech
Family :
Fagaceae
Height :
30 m
Targeted height :
This species can grow up to 35 m
Diameter of the crown :
16 m
Trunk circumference :
518 cm
Expected circumference :
800 cm
Expected longevity :
Can live for 350 years
Origin / Indigenous
Europe
Favorite soil :
All soils, not very demanding
Favorite climate
Cool and temperate, humid environment, sensitive to drought
Usefulness and services of the tree :
Enhances the landscape :
+++
Enhances the biodiversity :
++
Provide oxygen :
+++
Purify the air :
++
Filter the water :
++
Prevents flooding :
+
Stores carbon :
+
large trunk biomass but its wook is degrading fast
Softens the climate :
++
Limits soil erosion :
++
Does good, heals :
+++
Illustrated botany © Wikimedia Commons - Köhler's Medicinal Plants 1887
Features and characters of the individual
This is one of the monumental beech trees that make up the so-called “cathedral beech forest” within the greater Sonian Forest. Its trunk is particularly straight, almost like a column. The first branches are very high, at a height of 10 m. They raise up towards the sky, allowing the crown to get to the light. Its leaves are incredibly well organised to capture all the sun’s rays. Its dense foliage joins up with that of the other beech trees surrounding it. Together, they form a canopy that plunges the forest below into a greeny shade. This protects its trunk from sunburn and shelters young beeches below as they patiently wait for their turn to grow. Mushrooms are eating away at its root collar. It can be seen from the pathway, as long as it is still there.
