Beech cupules. The husk can have a variety of spine- to scale-like appendages, the character of which is, in addition to leaf shape, one of the primary ways beeches are differentiated. The nuts are edible, though bitter (though not nearly as bitter as acorns) with a high tannin content, and are called beechnuts or beechmast. The name of the tree (Latin "fagus", whence the species name; cognate with English "beech") is of Indo-European origin, and played an important role in early debates on the geographical origins of the Indo-European people. Greek φηγός is from the same root, but the word was
Beech that the modern word derives. In modern German, the word for "book" is "Buch," with "Buche" meaning "beech tree". In modern Dutch, the word for "book" is "boek," with "beuk" meaning "beech tree". In Swedish, these words are the same, "bok" meaning both "beech tree" and "book". Similarly, in Russian, the word for beech is бук ("buk"), while that for "letter" (as in a letter of the alphabet) is буква ("bukva"). The pigment bistre was made from beech wood soot. Beech litter raking as a replacement for straw in husbandry is an old nontimber practice in forest management that has