The word fagus is the classical Latin name, from the Greek word meaning to eat, in reference to the edible beechnuts.
All species look alike microscopically.
American beech grows in southeast Canada and in the eastern half of the United States, from Maine to northern Florida, and west from the Atlantic Coast to Wisconsin, Missouri and Texas. The American beech tree grows in large pure stands and intermixed with sugar maple, yellow birch, American basswood, black cherry, eastern hemlock, eastern white pine, red spruce, sweetgum, Southern magnolia, ashes, hickories and oaks. It grows best in deep, rich, moist, well-drained soils. The bark is thin, smooth, and gray to blue gray. The sapwood of American beech is white with a red tinge, while the heartwood is light to dark reddish brown.