Beeches (Fagus):

	Beeches are easy to recognize due to their smoky gray to light gray smooth bark. This unique bark also makes these trees a popular ornamental. The buds of these species are very long and slender, coming to a sharp point. The male flowers, or catkins, are found at the base of the shoot or in the lowest leaves. The female flowers appear in the axial of the upper leaves. Numerous hairy bracts subtend the female flowers. These bracts eventually become the half-woody thick walled husk that protects the maturing nutlets.  The beechnut is a deep chestnut brown in color with a thin shell (Peattie, 1950).
Disease:        Beeches bark diseases such as Beech scale, is a major cause of tree loss in Northern forests. The disease starts when the tree is attacked by the beech scale insects Cryptococcus fagi. The fungus Nectria coccinea causes cankers along the main stem of the tree were the insect had wounded the tree. This infection is not fatal, however it does open the bark to secondary fungal infections. It is often these secondary infections of wood rot fungi that kill the adult tree by attacking the stems or roots (Tatter, 1978).