Dwarf Beech

Dwarf beech
The dwarf beech known as the "Kopfbuche" ("Head Beech") in Bad Gandersheim in 2003. It has since then largely collapsed.
SpeciesF. sylvatica
Cultivar groupTortuosa Group

The dwarf beech, Fagus sylvatica Tortuosa Group, is a rare cultivar group of the European Beech with fewer than 1500 older specimens in Europe. It is also known as twisted beech or parasol beech.

It is a wide-spreading tree with distinctive twisted and contorted branches that are quite pendulous at their ends. With its short and twisted trunk the Dwarf Beech grows more in width than height, only seldom reaching a height of more than 15 metres. It sometimes grows from seed and has formed colonies in Sweden (where it is known as "Vresbok"), Denmark ("Vrange bøge"), Germany ("Süntel-Buchen"), France ("Faux de Verzy") and Italy ("Alberi serpente", nel Monte Pollino).

A similar form is the weeping beech (Fagus sylvatica Pendula Group), which has more pendulous branching.

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