Another occurs at Hardwick, Bury St. Edmunds, the seat of G.M. Gibson Cullum, Esq., which in 1904 was 11 feet 9 inches in girth, and about 80 to 90 feet in height. Bunbury[1] considered this to be the finest purple beech in England, and says it produces abundance of fruit, from which young trees have been raised.
Var. cuprea, Loddiges, Copper Beech.—This is only a sub-variety of the purple beech, distinguished by its young shoots and leaves being of a paler colour. The largest purple or copper beech which Elwes has seen is in the park at Dunkeld, Perthshire, not far from the Cathedral. This measures 86 feet high, with a girth of 15 feet 3 inches, and does not show any evidence of having been grafted. There is a very fine one at Corsham Court, the seat of General Lord Methuen, 85 to 90 feet high, by 14 in girth, forking at about 10 feet. At Scampston Hall, Yorkshire, Mr. Meade-Waldo tells us of two large spreading trees on their own roots, 11 feet 6 inches and 10 feet 6 inches in girth respectively. At Beauport, Sussex, the seat of Sir Archibald Lamb, Bart., a copper beech measured 12½ feet in girth in 1904. At Syston Park, Lincolnshire, the seat of Sir John Thorold, Bart., there is one nearly as large (12 feet 2 inches girth). A copper beech at Bell Hall, York, which was planted in 1800, measured in 1894, 9 feet in girth, the diameter of the spread of the branches being 74 feet. At Castle MacGarrett, Claremorris, Ireland, the seat of Lord Oranmore, there is a beautiful copper beech, which in 1904 was 70 feet high and 9 feet 10 inches in girth. In Over Wallop Rectory grounds, in Hampshire, a copper beech measured 9 feet 4 inches in 1880.
Two fine trees occur at Clonbrock, in Co. Galway, the seat of Lord Clonbrock. One measured in 1904 a length of 76 feet and a girth of 12 feet 9 inches. The other was 7 feet 6 inches girth in 1871, and in 1880 it had increased to 8 feet 5 inches.
The copper beech[2] is rarely used as a hedge, but there is one in the gardens of Ashwellthorpe Hall, Norwich, which is 138 yards long, 8 feet high, and about 5 feet through. It was planted about seventy years ago from seedlings by the Hon. and Rev. R. Wilson. The colouring in spring is very beautiful.
There is a sub-variety[3] of the copper beech in which the leaf is edged with pink whilst young, but later in summer it becomes nearly like the type. This variety has been called Fagus purpurea roseo-marginata, and it has been recommended as a hedge-plant, to be clipped two or three times during summer so as to obtain several crops of young shoots.
Var. atropurpurea.—The leaves in this are of a darker colour than in the ordinary purple beech.
Var. atropurpurea Rohani is quite different from the last, as the form of the leaves is similar to that of the fern-leaved beech, but their colour is like that of the copper beech.
Var. purpurea pendula.—This is a weeping form of the purple beech. It is of slow growth.
