The blossom of the beech is inconspicuous

Content

• The blossom of the beech is inconspicuous
• A beech carries male and female flowers
• When is the heyday of beech?
• When does a book flower for the first time?
• The flowers become fruits
• Tips

A beech flowers only from the age of 20 to 30 years

The blossom of the beech is inconspicuous

Beech trees are not planted for their flowers, but for their leafy foliage. The flowers are very inconspicuous. For sensitive people, the beech blossom can trigger allergies. Worth knowing about the flowering of the beech.

A beech carries male and female flowers

Beech trees are unisexual and homozygous. This means that both male and female flowers develop on a tree.

The female flowers grow in pairs in a shell with four flaps, which forms into a hard mug during the year. In it the seeds, the beechnuts, ripen. The male flowers hang down in clumps.

The sprouting of the flowers starts at the same time as the sprouting of the leaves.

When is the heyday of beech?

After budding, it will take two to three weeks for flowering to set in. It starts at the end of April and lasts until May.

When does a book flower for the first time?

Beech trees flower the first time when they reach the age of 20 to 30 years. Germinating fruits do not develop until about 40 years. If the beech is cut frequently, it does not bloom.

The flowers become fruits

The fruits, the beechnuts, grow from pollinated flowers in autumn. The slightly poisonous nutlets are ripe in September and October.

Beech trees do not have a rich flowering every year. In some years the trees do not bloom at all and no seeds grow. Flowering years are called fattening years.

Tips

The pollination of a beech is done by wind and insects. The propagation is done by squirrels, birds and mice. They bring the fallen beechnuts to more distant places where they sprout in spring.