The fruits of the red beech are called beechnuts. They are slightly poisonous and not edible raw for humans. What other special features does the fruit of the common beech have? Worth knowing about the fruits of the common beech.

The fruits of the red beech are called beechnuts

The fruit of the red beech is the beechnut

Beechnuts are small nuts that ripen in a prickly cup. Two, occasionally up to four beechnuts grow in each infructescence.

When ripe, the fruit cups break open and the beechnuts fall to the ground. There they are eaten by animals or taken to storage for the winter. As a result, squirrels, mice and birds contribute to the propagation of the common beech.

Beechnuts contain a lot of oil and are therefore a basic food source for deer, deer and other forest dwellers.

This is what beechnuts look like

  • Shape: triangular
  • Color: brown
  • Size: 2 cm long
  • Number: 2 to 4 per infructescence

When are beechnuts ripe?

Beechnuts ripen from September to October. If you want to sow beech trees yourself, you can simply pick them up in the forest.

Find more beechnuts than you need. Not every fruit will actually germinate later.

Propagating red beeches from seed

New red beeches can be grown from beechnuts. It must be noted that the seeds are stratified, i.e. they have to go through a longer cold phase. If you don't want to sow the beechnuts directly outdoors in autumn, you can put them in a dark container in the fridge for a few weeks.

Beechnuts are dark germs that only germinate when they are covered by soil or by leaves in the forest. The fruits are sown in small pots or directly in the open ground.

Some of the seeds will germinate next spring and can be planted out when the trees are big enough.

A beech tree only bears fruit after 40 years

European beeches only mature at around 40 years of age. Before that, they do not form beechnuts that are suitable for sowing. If a copper beech is cut frequently, it will not bear any flowers and therefore no beechnuts in autumn.

The fruits of the red beech are slightly poisonous

Beechnuts contain fagin and oxalic acid. Both substances trigger slight symptoms of poisoning in humans. This is also the case with horses.

If you want to eat beechnuts, roast them beforehand or heat them in some other way. The toxins are neutralized by heating and the beechnut becomes edible. Only then will you get a real aroma.

In times of hunger, beechnuts were often eaten. The nuts are very nutritious due to the high proportion of oils.

tips

Fully grown beech trees do not bear many fruits every year. In some years the ground is littered with beechnuts, while in others there is hardly any fruit on the tree. This is a natural process and does not mean that the tree is diseased.

Category:

Trees