Beech and the species "F. okamotoi", proposed by the botanist Chung-Fu Shen in 1992, comprise this subgenus. The better known "Fagus" subgenus beeches are high-branching with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-grey bark. This group includes "Fagus sylvatica", "Fagus grandifolia", "Fagus crenata", "Fagus lucida", "Fagus longipetiolata", and "Fagus hayatae". The classification of the European beech, "Fagus sylvatica" is complex, with a variety of different names proposed for different species and subspecies within this region (for example "Fagus taurica", "Fagus orientalis", and "Fagus moesica"). Research suggests that beeches in Eurasia differentiated fairly late in evolutionary history, during the Miocene. The populations in
Fagus sylvatica in the buds. In autumn, the tree builds the reserves that will sustain it into spring. Given good conditions, a bud can produce a shoot with up to ten or more leaves. The terminal bud emits a hormonal substance in the spring that halts the development of additional buds. This tendency, though very strong at the beginning of their existence, becomes weaker in older trees. It is only after the budding that root growth of the year begins. The first roots to appear are very thin (with a diameter of less than 0.5 mm). Later, after a wave of above