The European Beech or Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.

The natural range extends from southern Sweden (with some isolated locations in southern Norway) to central Italy, west to France and northern Portugal, and east to northwest Turkey, where it intergrades with the Oriental Beech (F. orientalis), which replaces it further east. In the Balkans, it shows some hybridisation with Oriental Beech; these hybrid trees are named Fagus x taurica. In the southern part of its range around the Mediterranean, it is restricted to mountain forests, at 600-1,800 m altitude. Although often regarded as native in southern England, recent evidence has shown that it did not arrive in England until about 4,000 BC, or 2,000 years after the English Channel formed after the ice ages; it was almost certainly an early introduction by Stone age man, who used the nuts for food.

It is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to 48 m tall and 3m trunk diameter, though more typically 25-35 m tall and up to 1.5 m trunk diameter. It has a typical lifespan of 150 to 200 years, though sometimes up to 300 years. The appearance varies according to its habitat; in forest conditions, it tends to have a long, slender light-gray trunk with a narrow crown and erect branches, in isolation with good side light the trunk is short with a large and widely spreading crown with very long branches.

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