Var. Zlatia, Späth,[1] Golden Beech.—This was found wild in the mountains of Servia by Professor Dragaschevitch. It is known in Servia as Zladna bukwa (golden beech).
Var. striata, Bose.[1]—This was discovered many years ago in a forest in Hesse. Soon after opening, the leaves show a regular golden striation parallel with the nerves, and this appearance lasts till the leaves fall off in autumn. It was introduced in 1892 by Dippel.
Various other coloured varieties have been obtained by horticulturists. In var. variegata the leaves are particoloured with white and yellow, interspersed with some streaks of red and purple. In var. tricolor the leaves are dark purplish green, spotted with bright pink and shaded with white. There are also gold-striped (var. aureo-variegata) and silver-striped (var. argenteo-variegata) varieties.
Var. heterophylla, Loudon, Fern-leaved Beech.—The leaves are variously cut, either in narrow shreds like some ferns, or in broader divisions like the leaves of a willow. This variety has received a great number of names, as laciniata, comptoniæfolia, incisa, salicifolia, asplenifolia, etc. The tree occasionally bears normal and cut leaves on the same twig, or normal and cut leaves on different twigs. It bears fruit occasionally, which, according to Bunbury[2], is smaller than that of the common beech, the cupule being shorter in proportion to the nuts. The leaf-buds are considerably smaller than those of the common form; and the twigs are often very pubescent. The origin of this variety is unknown.
There is a good specimen of this tree at Devonshurst House, Chiswick, which measured in 1903 55 feet in height, and 8 feet 2 inches in girth at 3 feet, just under a great horizontal branch.
At Barton, Bury St. Edmunds, a fern-leaved beech in 1904 was 53 feet high, with a girth of 5 feet 1 inch. This tree[2] was planted in 1831, but grew slowly, in 1869 being only 15 feet high, with a trunk 3 feet round. In 1868 the tree bore some twigs with ordinary leaves; and it first fruited in 1869, the crop being a very small one.
There are large and well-shaped trees of this form at Strathfieldsaye measuring 50 feet by 7 feet 5 inches; at Fawley Court of the same size exactly, and weeping to the ground; and at Stowe near Buckingham.
Var. quercoides, Pers., Oak-leaved Beech.—The leaves in this variety are longstalked, with an acute base and acuminate apex; margins pinnately and deeply cut, the individual segments being acute.
Var. cristata, Lodd. (also known as var. crispa).—Small and nearly sessile leaves, crowded into dense tufts, which occur at intervals on the branches. This form rarely attains a large size.
Var. macrophylla (also known as latifolia).—The leaves in this form are very large. In a specimen at Kew, from the garden of the Horticultural School at Vilvorde, they attain 7 inches in length and 5 inches in width. A large specimen of this tree, some fifty years old, occurs at Enys in Cornwall. The buds, as might
