It is a medium-sized tree and grows to about 24 metres high with a diameter of about 1.2 metres. It can live for many years, and some have lived for over 400 years. When the beech tree is about 50 years old, it starts to produce large crops of beechnuts every few years. The beechnuts are large, edible and nutritious. They are an important food source for black bears because they feast on these nuts before sleeping in the winter.
Black bears climb right up into the trees to get the beechnuts.
This causes damage to the bark of the tree, and the black bears also break many branches as they gather the beechnuts. Since the beech tree has thin bark, the scratch marks made by the bears can create openings for wood-rotting fungi. These fungi can be very damaging to trees. The beech tree can reproduce by growing suckers. These suckers are shoots that grow from an established root system.