American beech

Fagus grandifolia · Fagaceae · all Fagus records · Wikipedia

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Fagus grandifolia is on-list, with its recommendation source retained in the evidence table. That listing is one selected component of the American beech record.

The available pack remains limited evidence. Its current extent is visible in the source rows, rather than being expanded with conditions the record does not state.

Two hardiness assertions complete the selected profile. Their citations are collected under hardiness evidence, allowing the climate claims to be checked separately from the on-list recommendation.

Form: tree
Mature height: ~100 ft
Light: Full sun
Water need: moderate
Rated in: Global; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; NC; North Carolina +4

On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence: 3 source placement records; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia; NC; North Carolina; North Carolina / southeastern US; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
Maintenance

Typed publication scope: 6 scopes across 4 cited fire sources

Firewise Landscaping Plants (Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia editions) · Official scoped edition
- MD; partial normalized coverage · 2015-01-08
  Maryland Forest Service says the list contains plants that can be grown in Maryland and identifies Maryland natives. FireApproved publishes 169 exact source owners from the 180 printed rows; an unrepresentable form and duplicate-owner rows are not broadened. The list calls itself non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every Maryland site.
- NJ; partial normalized coverage
  New Jersey DEP publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in New Jersey and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and does not establish suitability for every New Jersey site or override the Pinelands Commission's separate placement and fuel-break rules.
- WV; partial normalized coverage · 2026-08-26
  West Virginia Division of Forestry publishes a state edition saying the listed plants can be grown in West Virginia and are relatively resistant to fire. Its same 180 printed taxon occurrences map to the 169 conservative owners already normalized for the template family. The list is non-comprehensive and provides no comparative or site-specific rating.
Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) · Official scoped edition
- NC; complete normalized coverage · 2025-03-26
  The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.
Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
- OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01
  Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
- VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15
  Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Native range: Current cited native range in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness: Documented minimum 2b; no upper limit is documented.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
Broader regional context
Federal context

How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Native and introduced range evidence

These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval. Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.

Current native

32

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

32 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Alabama (AL)
Arkansas (AR)
Connecticut (CT)
District of Columbia (DC)
Delaware (DE)
Florida (FL)
Georgia (GA)
Illinois (IL)
Indiana (IN)
Kentucky (KY)
Louisiana (LA)
Massachusetts (MA)
Maryland (MD)
Maine (ME)
Michigan (MI)
Missouri (MO)
Mississippi (MS)
North Carolina (NC)
New Hampshire (NH)
New Jersey (NJ)
New York (NY)
Ohio (OH)
Oklahoma (OK)
Pennsylvania (PA)
Rhode I. (RI)
South Carolina (SC)
Tennessee (TN)
Texas (TX)
Virginia (VA)
Vermont (VT)
Wisconsin (WI)
West Virginia (WV)

The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.

Plant hardiness evidence

These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector · record fagus-grandifolia · 2016-wayback · as of 2026-08-26

Source prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Fagus grandifolia · exact match.

Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.

Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record FAGR · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 2b · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -44°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Fagus grandifolia · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 70143, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 3 — 10–30 ft from the structure; thin vegetation, remove debris, and minimize plant massing [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (with its recommendation)
North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: fagus-grandifolia [nc-toolbox-flammability-facet] (mid-scale rating)
Firewise Landscaping Plants: Deciduous Trees [Maryland Firewise plant-form tables] (with its recommendation)

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Mid-scale / conditional (5)

Firewise Landscaping in North Carolina (E05-44596) — NC State University / NC Cooperative Extension + USFWS (Bardon, Van Druten) · 2005 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: nc-tree

“Medium flammability rating”
Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) — Ohio State University Extension (Sydnor, Steward, Kloss / Ohio DNR Division of Forestry) · 2006 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“M flammability”

Construction intolerant; climax forest tree.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) — Virginia Cooperative Extension / Virginia Tech (Appleton, Frenzel, Hillegass, Lyons, Steward — Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force) · 2009 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: ufifas-srs-tree

“M flammability”

Root system is easily damaged by construction. Needs good soils.
Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) — NC State Extension (Kays, Fawcett, Query, Thompson-Welch, Bardon) · 2025 · original source Primary evidence Expert-curated lineage: nc-tree resolves to Firewise Landscaping in North Carolina (E05-44596)

“medium flammability”

Corroboration (1 rows from 1 source)

North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox — plant profiles and flammability ratings — NC State Extension (plants.ces.ncsu.edu) · live facet capture accessed 2026-08-23 · original source Corroboration Expert-curated lineage: nc-tree resolves to Firewise Landscaping in North Carolina (E05-44596)

“medium flammability” · original source

NC Toolbox facet capture lists "Fagus grandifolia" under the medium flammability tag.

Listed without a rating (22)

Corroboration (22 rows from 1 source)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

22 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- Primary study Jaskolowski2014: Jaskólowski, W., Ogrodnik, P., & Lukaszek-Chmielewska, A. (2014). The study of time to ignition of woods under external heat flux by piloted ignition and autoignition. Annals of Warsaw University of Life SciencesSGGW, Forestry and Wood Technology, 86, 133-137.
  
  Shared row context: Combustibility measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying no; device calorimeter; site Jaskolowski2014-1; sampling ND.
  - “energy flux (kW/m²): 865”
    
    FLAMITS record 5052.
  - “energy flux (kW/m²): 624”
    
    FLAMITS record 5055.
  - “energy flux (kW/m²): 194”
    
    FLAMITS record 5058.
  - “energy flux (kW/m²): 64”
    
    FLAMITS record 5061.
  - “energy flux (kW/m²): 49”
    
    FLAMITS record 5064.
  - “energy flux (kW/m²): 29”
    
    FLAMITS record 5067.
- Primary study Mola2014: Mola, J. M., Varner, J. M., Jules, E. S., & Spector, T. (2014). Altered Community Flammability in Florida's Apalachicola Ravines and Implications for the Persistence of the Endangered Conifer Torreya taxifolia. Plos One, 9, 8.
  
  Shared row context: plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device burning bench; site Mola2014-1; sampling may and june.
  - “flame height (cm): 5.56”
    
    FLAMITS record 9224; Combustibility measurement.
  - “flaming duration (s): 40.8”
    
    FLAMITS record 9241; Sustainability measurement.
  - “burnt biomass (%): 99.14”
    
    FLAMITS record 9258; Consumability measurement.
  - “time to smouldering (s): 177.6”
    
    FLAMITS record 9275; Ignitability measurement.
- Primary study Shi2013: Shi, L., & Chew, M. Y. L. (2013). Experimental study of woods under external heat flux by autoignition. Journal of thermal analysis and calorimetry, 111, 1399-1407.
  
  Shared row context: Ignitability measurement; plant part wood; fuel dead; predrying yes; device calorimeter; site Shi2013-1; sampling ND.
  - “time to flaming (s): 46”
    
    FLAMITS record 12635.
  - “time to flaming (s): 46”
    
    FLAMITS record 12641.
  - “time to flaming (s): 39”
    
    FLAMITS record 12647.
  - “time to flaming (s): 20”
    
    FLAMITS record 12653.
  - “time to flaming (s): 13”
    
    FLAMITS record 12659.
  - “time to flaming (s): 18”
    
    FLAMITS record 12665.
  - “temperature at flaming (°C): 370.6”
    
    FLAMITS record 12671.
  - “temperature at flaming (°C): 503.8”
    
    FLAMITS record 12677.
  - “temperature at flaming (°C): 370.6”
    
    FLAMITS record 12683.
  - “temperature at flaming (°C): 338”
    
    FLAMITS record 12689.
  - “temperature at flaming (°C): 270.4”
    
    FLAMITS record 12695.
  - “temperature at flaming (°C): 378.9”
    
    FLAMITS record 12701.

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

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Fagus grandifolia (American beech). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/fagus-grandifolia/. Last verified 2026-08-23.