Trees get sunburn too
The beech does well in shady areas with damp soil, but is less suited to sunlight and heat. In the heat of summer it takes advantage of its deep root system to absorb up to 500 litres of water a day from the depths of the soil. But if we remove the surrounding trees and expose it to direct sunlight, burn marks can form on its trunk.
The fruit of the beech tree is edible under certain conditions
Beech trees seed every 5 to 8 years. The fruit of the beech tree is called the beechnut, which is triangular in shape. Prickly outer cases contain two or three beechnuts, which are an important source of food for birds and other forest creatures. They can also be eaten by humans, although some care is necessary. The thin shell of the nuts contains an alkaloid called fagin which is toxic to humans. Since this alkaloid is broken down by heat, beechnuts should always be boiled or roasted before eating.
Tinder fungus
A special type of fungus known as tinder fungus grows on decaying beech trunks. From the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century and the invention of matches, this fungus was used as tinder, which was made by taking the dried flesh of the fungus, pounding it up, boiling it with ash and then drying the resulting mixture. Demand for it was so great in the nineteenth century that nearly every shop in Ljubljana stocked it.