Image Gallery
Image
The American beech is a stately tree known for its smooth, gray bark and dark green, serrated leaves that turn golden bronze in the fall, often remaining on the tree through winter. It produces edible beechnuts that provide an important food source for wildlife.
American beech trees are slow-growing but can live for centuries, often forming dense, shaded groves in mature forests. Their shallow, spreading root systems make them sensitive to soil disturbance, and they are threatened by several devastating pests and diseases including beech bark and beech leaf diseases.
There are two original American beech trees still living on the U.S. Capitol campus today. Most notable is the beech located at the base of the Olmsted seating wall on the east Senate lawn. It's smooth canvas-like bark bares the damage of decades of arborglyphs (carvings).
About the Olmsted Originals
Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted's 1874 General Plan for the U.S. Capitol Grounds sought to create a setting to accentuate the monumentality of the Capitol Building. Approximately 45 of Olmsted's trees remain today, having endured more than a century of urban life on the front stage of American democracy.
Each tree has its own unique features and preservation challenges, and the Architect of the Capitol's arborists employ industry best management practices to ensure these trees are given the very best care to remain safely in the landscape for current and future generations to enjoy.
