Beech been widespread in Europe since the 17th century. Beech has been listed as one of the 38 plants whose flowers are used to prepare Bach flower remedies. The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental tree is the European beech ("Fagus sylvatica"), widely cultivated in North America and its native Europe. Many varieties are in cultivation, notably the weeping beech "F. sylvatica" 'Pendula', several varieties of copper or purple beech, the fern-leaved beech "F. sylvatica" 'Asplenifolia', and the tricolour beech "F. sylvatica" 'roseomarginata'. The strikingly columnar Dawyck beech ("F. sylvatica" 'Dawyck') occurs in green, gold, and purple forms, named after
Nyssa sylvatica in the Northeast is "pepperidge." On Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts, this species is called "beetlebung", perhaps for its use in making the mallet known as a beetle, used for hammering bungs (stoppers) into barrels. "Nyssa sylvatica" grows to tall, rarely to , with a trunk diameter of , rarely up to . These trees typically have a straight trunk with the branches extending outward at right angles. The bark is dark gray and flaky when young, but it becomes furrowed with age, resembling alligator hide on very old stems. The twigs of this tree are reddish-brown, usually hidden by a