Cut leaf beech at Falkland Palace

Off to Falkland Palace, partly to see the magnificent cut leaf beech, also called fern-leaved beech, Fagus sylvatica asplenifolia...

You can see the feathery foliage typical of this unusual variety of beech tree. The photo below shows the shape of the leaves and male and female flowers present at this time of year.

Cut leaf beech trees are not common. You can sometimes find them in botanic gardens including Edinburgh and Dundee and sometimes in the gardens around stately homes. Glamis Castle has a splendid example and there is an avenue of cut leaf beech along the drive leading to St Martins House, near Balbeggie in Perthshire.

The cut leaf mutation is a heritable characteristic and cut leaf seedlings can be found growing close to parent trees. However, the mutation does not appear to be altogether stable. Most cut leaf beech trees have some shoots which have reverted to the normal leaf shape.