Technical guidelines for genetic conservation and use Oriental beech Fagus orientalis Fagus orientalis Fagus orientalis Gaye Kandemir1 and Zeki Kaya2 1 Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding Research Directorate, Ankara, Turkey 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey These Technical Guidelines are intended to assist those who cherish the valuable oriental beech gene pool and its inheritance, through conserving valuable seed sources or use in practical forestry. The focus is on conserving the genetic diversity of the species at the European scale. The recommendations provided in this module should be regarded as a commonly agreed basis to be complemented and further developed for local, national or regional conditions. The Guidelines are based on the available knowledge of the species and on widely accepted methods for the conservation of forest genetic resources. Biology and ecology stem. The stem colour of orien- tal beech is a lighter grey than European beech. The leaves of Oriental beech or eastern beech oriental beech are egg-shaped (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) belongs without any lobes or peaks and to the family Fagaceae. It is a de- have a short stalk. The leaves ciduous broad-leaved tree which are alternate, simple and whole, reaches height of 30-40 meters. or with a slightly crenate margin, In rare instances, trees up to 7-15 cm long and 5-9 cm wide, 50 meters in height can be with 8-13 veins on each side of found. Stem diameter can the leaf (compared with 5-8 veins reach about 1 m at breast in F. sylvatica). The buds are long height. Height growth of and slender, 15-30 mm long and oriental beech at early 2-3 mm thick, but thicker (4- ages is slow. The maxi- 5 mm) where the buds include mum growth rate is usually flower buds. achieved at the age of 30- Oriental beech is a monoe- 40 years, but under shelter, cious species (having the fe- this could take longer, even male and male reproductive or- 60 years. If oriental beech ex- gans separated in different floral periences fast growth during the structures on the same plant). early stages, then growth will The male flowers hang as small end at about 100 years of age, catkins and the female flowers whilst for stands growing more are erect inflorescences that ap- slowly over the early stages, the pear at about the same time growth will continue until the age as the leaves begin to emerge of 160-200 years. in spring. Oriental beech is a In general, oriental beech has wind-pollinated species. Fruit a similar appearance to Europe- maturation occurs in October, an beech (Fagus sylvatica). Both 5-6 months after pollination. The beech species are characterized endocarp is thick, smooth and by their smooth and silver-grey a shiny dark brown colour, hairy OrientalFagus beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis Orientalorientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beech FagusFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisorientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFaguFagus orientalis inside the husk. Its colour light- ing beech trees. Phytophthora Distribution ens as the beechnut dries. The kills localized areas of the bark seeds are small triangular nuts and sapwood especially on 15-20 mm long and 7-10 mm the root flare and lower trunk. Oriental beech is indigenous to wide at the base; there are two Reddish-brown liquid issues the Balkans in the west, through nuts enclosed in a spiky cupule. from lesions, thus giving Anatolia (Asia Minor), to the Cau- The cupule differs from that of rise to the common name casus, northern Iran and Crimea. European beech in having flat- “bleeding canker”. In the central-east and east re- tened, slightly leaf-like append- gion of the Rhodope Mountains ages at the base (slender, soft in Bulgaria and Greece, exten- spines in European beech). A sive hybridization zones are ob- good seed crop of oriental beech served between oriental and Eu- occurs about every 2-5 years. ropean beeches. In Turkey, the Fresh seeds, which are non-en- species is distributed in Trachia dospermic, contain about 25- and in the south of Marmara Sea 30% water and cannot tolerate and throughout the Black Sea desiccation to a moisture level Regions where it is possible to of less than 10-12% at room find oriental beech both as pure temperature. For spring sowing, stands and mixed forests with seeds can be stored at 3˚C for conifers and other deciduous 5-6 months. However, seeds can broadleaves. There are also iso- be stored for 1.5-2 years at -5˚C lated natural populations of the with 12-17% moisture content. species north-east of the Medi- Oriental beech seeds have a dor- terranean Sea on the Amanos mancy mechanism. Therefore, to Mountains (Turkey). These popu- induce germination, seeds need lations are known as the most to be stratified for 9-14 weeks at southerly populations within the 3˚C. Seeds are rich in edible oil. If species’ distribution. In Iran, the seeds are dried and ground into distribution of the species is lim- a powder they can be used to ited to the southern coast of the make bread and cakes. Caspian Sea and it occurs as Phytophthora omnivora is mixed forest with Carbines in the main defective fun- the northern slopes of the Elburz gus of beech seedlings. Mountains. Oriental beech also Starting from the germi- occurs naturally in the Caucasus nation period, especial- Mountains in Georgia, Azerbai- ly at the appearance of jan, and Armenia. Oriental beech the cotyledons, the fungus is found between 200 m and starts to affect seedlings 2200 m above sea level. The dis- by causing first browning tribution patterns of the species and wilting, then death. in the south-eastern Balkans Beech bark disease and suggest that F. orientalis may bleeding canker, caused occur on drier and warmer sites by Phytophthora fungus, than F. sylvatica. are the principal diseases affect- OrientalFagus beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis Orientalorientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beech FagusFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisorientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFaguFagus orientalis Importance and use Genetic knowledge and these characteristics should be taken into consideration during sampling of populations. The wood colour of oriental Molecular marker studies re- Oriental beech does not pro- beech ranges from reddish to vealed that the differentiation of duce suckers like some other white. Reddish-brown heart- F. orientalis and F. sylvatica as beech species. Mass propagation wood formation occurs when the separate species is a relatively by means of vegetative propaga- trees reach 80-100 years of age. recent event. The high number tion (cloning) is generally possible, Beech wood is classified as a of chloroplast types in the north- but it is not practiced due to medium density wood (0.66 g/ ern Turkish populations of ori- the high costs involved cm³). As a hardwood species, ental beech indicates a possi- since cuttings are gener- the wood is heavy, hard, ble glacial refuge in this area. ally difficult to root. Ge- strong and highly resistant The magnitude of genetic netic improvement of beech to shock. Thus, it is suitable variation among popula- has been limited to seed stand for steam bending. tions of oriental beech selection and seed collection Oriental beech wood is is considerably higher from them. A simple stand se- principally used for fuel, than that of European lection system is usually applied. but there are other uses beech. Also, adative trait related The system relies on stand qual- such as particleboard, studies indicated that there is ity characters such as average furniture, flooring veneer, a discontinuous pattern of vari- growth increment, good health, mining poles (props), ation due to adaptation to cer- good phenotypic appearance of railway tiles and paper. tain local conditions, such as most trees and a large number of elevation, aspect, soil pH value seed trees for designation. The and frequency of wet snowfalls. area of a seed stand should have However, a continuous variation a minimum core size of 10 ha. in other characters, as in the time Most selected seed stands of of leaf flushing, was reported. oriental beech in Turkey, includ- The results of studies dealing ing core and buffer zone, are with genetics of oriental beech greater than 100 ha unless this is reported the presence of high- restricted by natural stand sizes. er genetic diversity in oriental There are selected seed stands beech than in European beech. and gene conservation forests This suggests that oriental spe- of oriental beech. However, cur- cies may be the ancestral spe- rently none of the material from cies within the European beech the seed stands has been tested. complex. Also, no seed orchards exist. Beech bears both male and female flowers on the same indi- vidual and is a wind pollinated tree species. This characteristic and reduced spreading of the seeds produce distinct family structures within natural stands. Thus, further genetic studies covering the whole range of oriental beech are needed OrientalFagus beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis Orientalorientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beech FagusFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisorientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFaguFagus orientalis Threats to forests, low quality of wood for Guidelines for genetic genetic diversity pulping and the paper indus- conservation and use try, as well as land clearing and A considerable part of oriental plantation of conifers (European Conservation of oriental beech beech forests, at least in Turkey, black pine and Scots pine) have genetic resources is carried out consist of trees originating from led to a fragmentation of the mainly by setting up seed stands stem sprouts due to anthropo- beech forests in the country.