More info for the terms:
adventitious,
litter,
seed,
treeSexual reproduction: Beech begin producing seed when 40 years old and
by 60 years old may produce large quantities. Beech produces seed at 2-
to 8-year intervals. Beech seeds average about 1,600 per pound
(3,500/kg) [
41]. Most seeds drop to the ground. A few are carried by
rodents but dispersal is limited. Bluejays may transport seeds several
kilometers [
9]. Most of the seeds will germinate in the 1st year; after
that, the seeds lose viability [
41].
Beech seeds germinate from early spring to early summer. Chilling is
required to break dormancy. Germination is good on mineral soil or
leafy litter, but poor on excessively wet sites. Seedlings grow best
under a moderate canopy or in protected small openings where the soil
does not dry out below the depth of the shallow roots [
28].
Vegetative Reproduction: Beech can regenerate by root suckers or by
stump sprouts [
6]. Sprouts may develop on the trunk of a tree
immediately below a wound and from the top of stumps. Adventitious buds
develop in callus tissue of the cambial layers of stumps. Sprouts can
also develop from the exposure of the roots to air or elevated
temperatures. Sometimes root sprouts develop when no apparent injury
has occurred [
14].
The advance of beech bark disease, with its resultant mortality of
overstory beech stems, is likely to result in an increase in root
suckering [
23]. Beech is more likely to develop by sprouting than by
seedling establishment [
19].
