RISE AND FALL OF A BEECH 
     
    
   
   
    
     (exerpted from watershed Red: The Life of the Dunk River, Prince Edward Island 
     
     by Kathy Martin , illustrated by Connie Gaudet. Ragweed Press, 1982. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A mature beech stands on a southfhcing hilltop in Rose Valley. The top 
     
     branches tower 18 meters above the circular patches of yew growing a respectful 
     
     distance from its base. The thin bark of youth has thickened with age and now 
     
     stretches reluctantly around its two-meter girth. For over a century, the Rose 
     
     Valley beech has shared this location with neighbouring sugar maples. hith its 
     
     assortment bf lichens, moss, insect egg cases, Spider webs, and a flying 
     
     squirrel's nest, the tree resembles a large and diverse apartment house which 
     
     never lacks for occupants. There is a greater variety of lifestyles on the 
     
     beech than there is in the village of Kinkora! 
     
    

    
     In the original woodland of the Dunk River watershed, beech was probably 
     
     predominant and this tree in Rose Valley would not have been a noteworthy 
     
     specimen; but today it reigns as a giant. The extent of this species was 
     
     described by John Stewart (Account of Prince Edward Island in the Gulf of St. 
     
     Lawrence, 1806, p. 36): . 
     
    

    
     This tree grows in great abundance, probably better than one-half 
     
    

    
     of the Island is covered with it, in some districts it forms 
     
    

    
     nine-tenths of the forest, in others it is more mixed with other 
     
    

    
     trees, 
     
    

    
     THE RISE 
     
    

    
     In late April or early Mby, after its leaves are about one-third grown, 
     
     the parent beech tree produces flowers of both sexes. ‘Wind carries pollen from 
     
     the long-stemmed heads of a male stamen to the pistil of a female. After 
     
     fertilization in the ovary, the embryonic beech is packaged as a seed and 
     
     enclosed in the type of fruit known as a nut. These are chestnut-brown colored, 
     
     thin-shelled, and pyrimidal shaped. Usually two or three nuts develop from one 
     
     flower cluster and these are assembled as a unit and surrounded with a prickly 
     
     bur, called beech mast. 
     
    

    
     The seeds in their concentric, protective coverings require the summer to 
     
     mature. From September to November, especially after the first heavy frost, 
     
     burs open and the nuts fall to the ground. Seeds are spread by gravity or 
     
     transported short distances by animals. At this point, the fate of each 
     
     potential beech tree is uncertain. Mbst of the seeds will not even have a 
     
     chance to germinate. While they rest in the leaf litter they are readily found 
     
     and eaten by squirrels, birds, insects and worms. 
     
    

    
     There were additional predators when the Rose valley beech was a nut. 
     
     Settlers, attuned to the wild harvest, were extremely fond of the sweet nutmeat. 
     
     Beech stands were extensive and produced such quantities of mast that farmers 
     
     in the nineteenth century turned their pigs into the woods to forage on it. 
     
    

    
     During the winter the embryo remains dormant in the nut. Germination 
     
     occurs the fbllowing spring or early summer. Within a week, the seedling has 
     
     grown a tiny tap root. Two small green leaves develop ten centimeters above 
     
     ground at the top of the stem. Now the seedling can settle into the regular 
     
     business of being a little plant. If all goes well, it will continue growing 
     
     and become a big plant, or more properly a tree. Tb be successful, it must 
     
     gather water and minerals from the soil and produce food by using energy from 
     
     the sun. 
     
    

    
     A beech tree is actively developing only when it has leaves which are 
     
     producing food. Every year it grows for at least 150 days, and in doing so 
     
     adds an annual ring to its trunk. The roots spread down and out to anchor the