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Nomenclature etc. FAGACEAE. Trade and local names: Rotbuche, Gemeine Buche (DE), hêtre, fayard (FR), faggio (IT), beuken (NL), kaym (TR), rödbok (SE), buk (CZ, PL, RO), bökk (HU). Not protected under CITES regulations.
Tree. Geographic distribution: Europe, excl. Mediterranean, Mediterranean incl. N. Africa and Middle East.
General. Growth ring boundaries distinct. Demarcated by dark coloured latewood, zones of lower vessel frequency, noded rays and thicker-walled fibres. Heartwood basically brown, red, white or grey. Sapwood colour similar to heartwood colour. Density 0.49–0.68–0.88 g/cm³. Often with discoloured heartwood; rays macroscopically visible as dark spindles (tangentially) or bands (radially) several mm in height; large rays wider than largest pores (transverse section) and noded at the growth ring boundary.
Vessels. Vessels present. Wood semi ring porous to diffuse porous. Vessels in multiples, commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows and in clusters. Vessel outline angular. Average tangential vessel diameter 45–60–80 µm. Average number of vessels/mm² 80–125–160. Perforation plates simple or scalariform (limited to latewood vessels, few), with 8–20 bars. Intervessel pits scalariform (rare) or opposite, average diameter (vertical) 5–7 µm. Vessel-ray pits with reduced borders or apparently simple, different from intervessel pits, horizontal to vertical. Helical thickenings absent. Tyloses present (only in discoloured heartwood), thinwalled. Other deposits present (only in discoloured heartwood).
Tracheids and fibres. Fibres of medium wall thickness. Average fibre length 540–720–910 µm. Fibre pits common in both radial and tangential walls, distinctly bordered.
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma apotracheal and paratracheal. Apotracheal axial parenchyma diffuse. Paratracheal axial parenchyma scanty. Axial parenchyma as strands. Average number of cells per strand: 4–8.
Rays. Rays 2–5 per tangential mm (applies to large rays only, small rays much more frequent), multiseriate, 2–15–25 cells wide. Rays of two distinct sizes. Height of large rays commonly over 1000 µm. Rays composed of a single cell type (homocellular); homocellular ray cells procumbent. Sheath cells absent.
Mineral inclusions. Crystals not observed. Silica not observed.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood not fluorescent. Water extract not fluorescent; colour of water extract colourless to brown. Ethanol extract not fluorescent. Colour of ethanol extract colourless to brown. Froth test positive. Splinter burns to partial ash. Ash white to grey.
Illustrations. • Macroscopic images. transverse (ca. 10x). tangential (natural size). • Transverse section. • Tangential section. • Radial section. scalariform perforation plates mainly in smaller latewood vessels.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2000 onwards. Commercial timbers: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Version: 9th April 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
