Fagus sylvatica
Common beech

- Family: Fagacea
- Origen: native to central and western Europe
- Interesting fact: in Galicia it is an adventurous tree in the high mountains, such as Caurel or Pedrafita do Cebreiro

A tree measuring up to 40 metres tall, with smooth, greyish bark that does not crack in adult specimens.

The leaves are alternate, deciduous, petiolate, with hairs on the edge of the limb and on the veins of the young leaves. They are ovoid, 4 to 10 centimetres long, with a wavy, smooth edge.

The flowers are unisexual. The males are arranged in globose, drooping catkins, with a tubular calyx, 5 or 6 sepals and 10-12 stamens. The female flowers are arranged in small groups of 1 to 3, protected by an involucrum, with an ovary with 3 long, narrow stigmas.

The fruit, (beechnuts), with three marked ribs, are protected by an involucrum covered with numerous dull spikes. This shell contains 1 to 3 nuts and opens in late summer or early autumn.

Source: Rosalía de Castro Park Botanical Guide