Tree · Fagaceae
American beech
Fagus grandifolia
American beech is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,161 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
American beech at a glance
- Native in
- 1,161 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −44°F
- Mature height
- 80 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −44°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
American beech is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,161 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,161 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 65 counties
- Arkansas 36 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 16 counties
- Georgia 45 counties
- Illinois 23 counties
- Indiana 76 counties
- Kentucky 117 counties
- Louisiana 36 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 67 counties
- Mississippi 56 counties
- Missouri 9 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 41 counties
- North Carolina 67 counties
- Ohio 88 counties
- Oklahoma 2 counties
- Pennsylvania 66 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 24 counties
- Tennessee 73 counties
- Texas 9 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 100 counties
- West Virginia 49 counties
- Wisconsin 19 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 80 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 28 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.1 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 32 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −44°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 92
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Fagaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- FAGR
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Fagus grandifolia (PLANTS symbol FAGR).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources