Also called North American beech.
Part of
beech genus Fagus
in
beech / oak family Fagaceae
in
bayberry / beech / birch / oak / walnut order Fagales.
Native to 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 North America and México, east of the 🗻︎ Rocky Mountains and Great Plains.
🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48)
(color key),
🗺 map (North America, Central America), 
🗺 today + with climate change (eastern 🇺🇸 USA).
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
Found in climax forests, with birch and 🍁︎ maple. Famous for 👥︎ people carving their initials in this "initial tree". Leaves may be bronze-color in 🍃︎ autumn.
From a distance, American beech trees sometimes look like
hemlock genus Tsuga.
Even though one is has tiny 🌲︎│ conifer needles, and the other has large 🌳︎🍂︎ broadleaves. Must be something about the trees' overall shape, and the ═ horizontal way they carry their branches.
Fagus hosts caterpillars of 126 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.
🌰︎ Beechnuts are high in protein and fat, and are important food for 🐦︎ birds, 🦌︎ deer, 🐻︎ bear, 🦊︎ fox,
squirrel family Sciuridae,
🐿 chipmunk, 🐭︎ mice and 🐖︎ feral hogs.
🍂︎╟ Beech leaves and twigs provide food for
◼︎🦌︎ white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus
late in the season, when there is very little other food available.
If needed, you can protect young beech
within the ⚘🦌︎ deer browse line
with:
This plant is known to be a host for (in areas where invasive)
🐝︎ spotted lanternfly (SLF) Lycorma delicatula.
"Beech Bark Disease: A Management Breakthrough?" by Plant Doctor at MSU.