The copper beech develops a variety of fruits in some years. In other years, however, there are almost no beechnuts to be found. What you should know about the slightly poisonous fruits of copper beech trees.
What do the fruits of a copper beech tree look like and when are they ripe?
The fruits of the copper beech are about two centimeters long, gray-brown, slightly prickly and contain two to four beech nuts. They ripen in September and October and are slightly poisonous as they contain oxalic acid and fagin.
The fruits of the copper beech tree
The copper beech tree only begins to bloom after 30, sometimes even 40 years. Fruits develop from the flowers.
- Fruits about two centimeters long
- grey-brown color
- slightly prickly
- two to four beechnuts per fruit
When do the fruits of copper beech ripen
The fruits of the copper beech are ripe in September and October. They then fall to the ground. The shell of the fruit often cracks open and the beechnuts detach themselves.
The seeds are spread by squirrels and jays. They are often buried and forgotten, so that a new copper beech tree grows in their place.
In the forest, beechnuts are an important food source for wild boars, red deer and fallow deer, as well as birds and other forest animals. They contain a lot of oil and help forest dwellers build up fat reserves for the winter.
Many fruits in mast years
Like all beech trees, copper beech trees do not produce many fruits every year. Some years the harvest fails completely, other years there are so many beechnuts that the entire ground is covered with them.
This is a natural process that is also known as fattening. Excessive production of seeds ensures that at least some of them are not eaten by animals and new trees develop from them.
Fruits are slightly poisonous
Beechnuts contain a lot of oxalic acid and fagin. They are therefore classified as slightly poisonous. Excessive consumption causes nausea and stomach pain.
The toxins can be broken down by heating. Roasted beechnuts are often used in vegan cuisine. The heat treatment makes the fruits more edible.
Beechnuts can also be ground into flour and used for baking bread, cakes and cookies.
Tip
If you want to propagate copper beech trees yourself, you can collect the seeds from copper beech trees that are freely standing in the forest. However, the seeds must be stratified before sowing. This means that they need a longer cold phase to overcome the germination inhibition.