Beech is a unique plant that has no analogues in the whole world. The tree hardly takes root in areas where it does not grow in natural conditions. It took Russian breeders almost a century and a half to ensure that it could grow on the territory of our country, at least in a collection form.
Beech wood is highly valued among other types of materials. In most countries, it is imported, and therefore it is quite expensive. And objects made from it are valued much higher than similar products made from other types of wood.
Distribution
Where does the oriental beech grow? Under natural conditions, the tree is common in the Caucasus, where it grows at an altitude of one thousand to one and a half thousand meters above sea level. It forms beech or mixed deciduous forests. They occupy about 1 million hectares in the Caucasus, which is 25% of the total forest area.
In addition, this species is widespread in the Crimea - at a level of 700 to 1.5 thousand meters above sea level. Settles in the gorges,river banks, along the northern slopes of the mountains, much less often - on the plains.
In the subalpine belt, beech is represented as multi-stemmed low-growing trees, often with bent at the base or lodged trunks. This is an extremely heat-loving breed, which is very demanding on air humidity and soil fertility.
Description of Eastern beech
Today we will talk about a tree that grows in Russia and the Caucasus. This powerful plant is the oriental beech. The height of an adult tree reaches from 30 to 50 meters and up to two meters in trunk diameter. The tree has a powerful dense broad cylindrical or ovoid crown.
The bark is thin and smooth. Young shoots are slightly pubescent. A feature of this tree is a smooth ash-gray trunk, oval-shaped leaves, slightly pointed at the ends with a perfectly even edge. Leaves petiolate, alternate. The upper part of the plate is bare, shiny. Petioles are pubescent, not more than 2 cm long. The length of an oriental beech leaf can vary from 7 to 20 cm. Stipules have a reddish tint. They fall early.
Flowers
Small, rather inconspicuous flowers are collected in complex inflorescences. Usually the flowers are unisexual, much less often bisexual, having a simple perianth. The staminate flowers gather in multi-flowered inflorescences, which are attached to long peduncles growing from the axils of the leaves.
Widely campanulate perianth, consisting of 5 - 6 elliptical leaflets soldered at the bottom. Oriental beech blooms atApril, almost at the same time as the leaves appear.
Fruits
The main value of this variety of beech is its fruits, which ripen in the second half of September or early October. Oriental beech fruits are trihedral, smooth, sharp-ribbed, one-seeded nuts of brown color. Their length does not exceed 2.2 cm, weight is about 0.2 g. Nuts have a thin woody pericarp. Up to 90 thousand fruits are harvested from one adult tree.
The fruit-nut looks like a large grain of buckwheat. Two or three of these nuts are collected and covered with a strong woody shell-plus, forming shaggy small balls. Their surface is covered with needle-like processes. In fact, they are soft and not prickly at all. The plush opens when the fruits ripen into 4 shares. Yields alternate in the lower parts of the mountains after three to four years, and in the highlands after 9 years. The nut yield ranges from 20-1000 kg per hectare.
The wood is painted white with a light yellow tint. Overmature trees often have a false core of red-brown color. Annual rings are clearly visible on all cuts.
Decorative properties
Oriental beech is an ornamental tree and shrub (when young) widely used for green walls and hedges. They look great in combination with many coniferous and deciduous crops. Beech is used for both single and group plantings. Often these plants adorn city parks, hospitals and sanatoriums, rest homes and children's camps. The plant is decorative duringthroughout the year, but beech is especially beautiful in autumn, when the foliage takes on a bright golden-orange color.
Interesting fact
A hectare of beech forest emits from 3.5 to 5 thousand tons of water vapor into the atmosphere per day. This explains the fog and cloudiness rising above the forest. Since the need for hardwoods in water is much greater than that of resinous ones, they increase the humidity of the air. In this way they regulate the climate. Mass cutting of deciduous forests entails long-term climate change, usually negative.
Features of the chemical composition
Oriental beech nut kernels contain:
- up to 48% protein;
- starch and sugar (3 - 5%);
- tocopherol;
- organic acids and fatty oil (50 - 57%);
- tannins;
- nitrogenous substances (up to 30%);
- citric and malic acid.
In addition, they contain the poisonous alkaloid fagin, which decomposes when nuts are roasted. As a result, they become harmless to humans. About 5% of creosote contains tar from beech wood. This substance is a mixture of different phenols. The bark contains vanilloside and citric acid. The wood contains cyclopentanol and ethyl guaiacol.
Medical use
Creosote in medicine is used externally as a disinfectant and cauterizing agent. Internal use is recommended for chronic catarrh of the respiratory tract.
Home use
Oriental beech wood has unique properties. However, it is not very resistant to decay. In terms of durability and strength, it is significantly inferior to chestnut, oak, coniferous wood, so it is used less frequently in construction. It is mainly used in the furniture industry (previously bent Viennese furniture was made from it), in the manufacture of barrel staves and for the production of parquet. In addition, sleepers are made from it after preliminary impregnation with special compounds, roofing shingles.
Due to the plasticity of wood, musical instruments are made from it. Beech is a highly demanded material for the manufacture of handles for knives and butts for weapons. Beech is a medium-density species with a high rate of breathability. Its wood easily absorbs moisture, and therefore needs special storage and processing conditions.
Beech nuts are used to make flour, from which special cakes are baked. It is made from carefully peeled and well-roasted nuts. By adding a little wheat flour to it, you can get an excellent mixture for baking pancakes, pancakes, crumbly cookies.
Beech nuts are a valuable nutritious food for animals that live in the Caucasian forests, for example, for wild boars. In addition, buried by animals in the ground, they give young shoots of a beech forest. Beech branches are used as feed for domestic goats and sheep.
High quality edible oil is made from nuts. It is dyed light yellowtaste and nutritional value is not inferior to olive oil. In baking, they are often replaced with almond and nut butter. In addition, they are seasoned with salads, added to the second and first courses, as well as to confectionery. The cake left after pressing the oil is used to make a coffee surrogate. Interestingly, beech is considered one of the sweetest trees. Breaking off a piece of bark, you can collect he althy, sweet and very tasty beech juice.
