What trees line the Kingsroad in Game of Thrones?

European beechFagus sylvatica is better known by the nameEuropean beech, that is, the "beech tree" that appears so often in European literature. The species epithet sylvatica and the name of Sylvanas, the Dark Lady in Warcraft, both come from the Latin sylva, meaning "of the forest."

Leaves that wither but do not fall

European beech isone of the most common forest trees in Europe, widely distributed across the European continent west of the Balkan Peninsula. The record height for a plant exceeds 50 m, and ordinary ones easily reach 30 m.

The European beech'scrown shape is related to its environment. In forests it tends to be narrower because of the closed canopy and low light, while planted in a sunny park or along a roadside it usually grows into a broad sphere.

European beech by the roadside and in the forest. Image: Willow & Ben Skála / wikimedia

The European beech'sroot system spreads over an enormous area, its bark is smooth, and its leaf edges have small obtuse rounded teeth, in which its Fagaceae lineage can faintly be seen.

Leaves of the European beech. Image: Willow / wikimedia

Although it is a deciduous tree,the leaves of the European beech do not all fall every autumn; some remain on the branches and wither until the new buds break in early spring the following year, and only then do they drop. This phenomenon has a dedicated word in English, marcescence, which can be translated into Chinese as withering retention or dead-withering, and its specific evolutionary significance is still not very clear,with one view holding that it can provide cover for new buds and prevent them from being eaten by animals。

European beech in autumn. Image: Jean-Pol GRANDMONT / wikipedia

One material, many uses

European beech generally only flowers and bears fruit after growing for more than ten years. Their flowers aremonoecious unisexual flowers; the male flowers gather into drooping dichasial cymes, and the female flowers grow in the involucre at the leaf axils - the cupule.

The upright fuzzy balls are female inflorescences, and the drooping ones are male inflorescences. Image: Kenraiz / wikimedia

The European beech'scupulehas protruding appendages on its surface, but they are neither spines like those of the chestnut nor scales like those of the oak; instead they are covered with grayish-white coarse hairs.The cupule splits open when mature, releasing the two three-angled nuts inside。

Cupule and nuts. Image: Frank Vincentz / wikimedia

As a distant relative of the chestnut, the seeds of the European beech are also edible, but because they contain large amounts of tannic acid,eating them directly is both bitter and irritating to the stomach and intestines. Yet in times when food was scarce, people still could not give up this important source of calories, so they would grind the seed kernels into powder, soak and rinse them with water, remove the tannic acid, and then eat the starch that settled out. Their seeds also contain oils, which in the 19th century the English used to press for lamp oil.

The shelled seeds look like this. Image: healthbenefitstimes.com

The European beech's trunk is tall and straight and thick, and its wood is hard and dense, so it can be used as a building material or as a raw material for indoor furniture.The very center of the heartwood is reddish in color, which is not very popular in our country's market, but in its native Europe people do not mind much and instead regard it as a distinctive color.

Wood with a red heart in the center. Image: beky.eu

Unlike oak, which is also in the Fagaceae family,the wood of the European beech decays easily when exposed to water, and without preservative treatment it cannot be used to make water buckets or wine barrels, nor is it suitable for making outdoor furniture that will be exposed to rain.

However, the wood of the European beech is good firewood. Itscellulose, extracted from the wood, can also be used to make highly moisture-absorbing, highly breathable modal fiber- the kind often used in thermal underwear.

European beech wood. Image: Jean-Pierre Chéreau & Roger Culos / wikimedia

In the Sherlock Holmes series' The Sign of the Four, there is a detail describing Holmes discovering footprints left by stepping increosote, an oil that was a common medical supply in Victorian Britain and was mainly obtained by burning wood such as European beech into charcoal and then subjecting it to dry distillation and other processes.

Creosote contains phenols such as guaiacol and phenol, and is apowerful bactericidal preservative, but it can harm the skin and mucous membranes, and has now gradually withdrawn from the ranks of mainstream disinfectants. In Japan there is an over-the-counter medicine for diarrhea called Seirogan, whose active ingredient is creosote; the burning pain it brings when held in the mouth is precisely due to the irritant effect of creosote.

"The Dark Hedges"

Natural forests of European beech are often very dark,with dense branches and leaves covering the ground completely, and few shrubs grow there, while their ownseedlings are very well adapted to this environment, preferring shade and fearing sun, and they must be in a place not reached by direct sunlight to thrive.

In oak economic forests, the seeds of the European beech often take root and sprout in the shade,and because they grow fast, their height easily surpasses that of the oaks, shading the sunlight and affecting the oaks' growth, soone of the daily tasks of forestry workers in oak forests is to pull out the young European beech seedlings。

European beech seedlings. Image: wikimedia

Because the European beech has a beautiful tree form, it is also often used in European gardens, and over the years people have bred varieties with various tree forms, leaf shapes and leaf colors. In the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in the UK there is a very famoustree wall, which was created by planting a row of European beeches and then pruning them, with a total length of more than 100 m and the height of a three-story building, emerald green in spring and summer and crimson in autumn and winter, very spectacular.

The European beech tree wall in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Image: cookiebuxton.com

Swipe left and right to view the colorful-leaf cultivars "Purpurea Tricolor" and "Rohan Weeping". Image: Аимаина хикари & Elektryczne jab?ko / wikimedia

The"Kingsroad"scene that appeared in the first episode of the second season of Game of Thrones also has European beeches on both sides; the real location is a country lane in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and the trees on both sides were planted in the 18th century. Whenever you step into it when the light is dim, you feel an otherworldly sensation rushing toward you, and because of this this stretch of road has also gained the nickname Dark Hedges -"The Dark Hedges"。

The "Kingsroad" in Game of Thrones. Image: winteriscoming.net

The real Dark Hedges. Image: Colin Park / wikimedia

The European beech accompanied the ancient Europeans from savagery to civilization, and people put it to full use, and fortunately did not drain the pond to catch all the fish.

Now many places in Europe still preserve large areas of European beech forest, andhave established multiple nature reserves; the primeval forests of the Carpathian [kā ěr bā qiān] Mountains spanning several countries have also been listed as World Heritage for protection.

European beech forest listed as World Heritage. Image: allaboutworldheritage.com

This article is the 154th article of the 4th year of Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @Desert Porcupine.

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