Types of Beech – American or European

Choose American beech for a woodland, or European beech for a hedge or purple specimen first.

Choose American beech for a woodland, or European beech for a hedge or purple specimen

The first choice is the job. American beech is the native woodland tree, 50 to 80 feet, with coarsely toothed leaves and smooth pale bark. European beech is the hedge and specimen tree for most yards that drain. [1] [2] copper beech is a purple-leaf form of European beech, not a second species. weeping beech weeps. Dawyck Purple stays narrow. [3] If the tag only says beech, decide woodland versus hedge or purple specimen, then pick that kind. [4]

Browse by kind

Match the woodland job or the hedge-and-specimen job, then pick that kind. An American beech will not fill a clipped European screen, and a weeping form will not stay a narrow column. Care for the tree you already have on How to Grow Beech.

American beech

American beech is the eastern native, also sold as beechnut tree. Buy this group for a woodland, ravine, or large park. Leaves are coarser-toothed than European beech, and the tree suckers into groves. It is Fagus grandifolia, not a clipped European hedge.

European beech

European beech is the landscape tree and the clipped hedge. Buy this group for a green specimen or a winter screen on soil that drains. Cut-leaf Aspleniifolia stays in this kind. It is Fagus sylvatica.

Copper and purple-leaf

copper beech and similar purple forms are still European beech. Buy this group for purple foliage in full sun. Riversii, Rohanii, and Tricolor stay here; they are not a second species.

Weeping forms

weeping beech is the cascading form. Buy this group when you want a sweep of branches, not a hedge line or a narrow column.

Columnar forms

Dawyck Purple is the narrow upright purple form. Buy this group when width is limited. It is still European beech, not a dwarf pot tree.

If you want a woodland native, buy American beech. If you want a hedge or a purple specimen, buy European beech.