''Fagus mexicana'', the Mexican beech or haya, is a species of

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

endemic to northeastern and central Mexico, where it occurs from

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...

, Tamaulipas south to Hidalgo, Veracruz and

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

. It is restricted to Tropical montane cloud forests in the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

. It is closely related to the

American beech ''Fagus grandifolia'', the American beech or North American beech, is a species of beech tree native to the eastern United States and extreme southeast of Canada. Description ''Fagus grandifolia'' is a large deciduous tree growing to tall, w ...

''Fagus grandifolia'' and is usually treated as ''Fagus grandifolia'' subsp. ''mexicana'' (Martínez) E.Murray.

Description

''Fagus mexicana'' is a deciduous tree, reaching heights of 25–40 m tall and up to 1 m trunk diameter. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are alternate and simple, with a slightly toothed margin, usually smaller than those of American beech, 5–8 cm long and 3–5 cm broad. The buds are long and slender, 15–25 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. The flowers are small

catkin A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster (a spike), with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated (anemophilous) but sometimes insect-pollinated (as in ''Salix''). They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged cl ...

s which appear shortly after the leaves in spring. The seeds are small triangular

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

15–20 mm long and 7–10 mm wide at the base; there are two nuts in each cupule, maturing in the autumn 6–7 months after pollination.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3145119 mexicana Endemic flora of Mexico Flora of Central Mexico Flora of Northeastern Mexico Trees of Hidalgo (state) Trees of Puebla Trees of Tamaulipas Flora of the Sierra Madre Oriental Plants described in 1939