The flowers are small and single-sex (monoecious), the female flowers are carried in pairs, the male flowers are wind-pollinating catkins, produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear. The bark is smooth and light grey. The fruit is a small, sharply three–anglend nut 10–15 mm long. The nuts are edible, though bitter (though not nearly as bitter as acorns). They have a high tannin content, and are called beechnuts or beechmast.