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Fagus sylvatica var. suentelensis
Also called Beech, European Beech, European Beech, Common Beech, Weeping Beech, Copper Beech
A rare, slow-growing cultivar group of European beech with twisted, contorted branches that often grow wider than tall, mostly seen as a garden or park specimen. Grown from grafted stock, as seed is unreliable, and needs space to spread.
The dwarf beech, Fagus sylvatica Tortuosa Group, is a rare cultivar group of the European beech with fewer than 1500 older specimens in Europe. It is also known as twisted beech or parasol beech.
It is a wide-spreading tree with distinctive twisted and contorted branches that are quite pendulous at their ends. With its short and twisted trunk the Dwarf Beech grows more in width than height, only seldom reaching a height of more than 15 metres. It sometimes grows from seed and has formed colonies in Sweden (where it is known as "Vresbok"), Denmark ("Vrange bøge"), Germany ("Süntel-Buchen"), France ("Faux de Verzy") and Italy ("Alberi serpente", nel Monte Pollino).
The dwarf beech's twisted and curved wood cannot be used commercially. Because of the twisted growth, the wood is very difficult to split along the grain with an axe or saw and, because of its crookedness, it is difficult to stack so that it is unsuitable even as firewood. The value of the dwarf beech lies alone in its importance as an ornamental tree in parks, gardens, and other public places.
American Beech · South Chinese Beech · European Beech · Beech
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dwarf beech by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
