Nuts Native to North America

By The Mother Earth News Editors
Updated on October 13, 2022
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by Adobestock/Yevhenii Kukulka
Beech nuts come encased in a round pod, but the nuts are oblong.

North American nut trees are or once were the most popular and economically essential nuts native to North America for their wood, fruit, or both.

Beech Tree

The beech is a large tree–60 to 80 feet-high–with smooth gray bark and oval leaves. It’s a familiar part of the hardwood forest and also a popular shade and ornamental species. Very handsome it is, too, especially in the fall when the foliage turns gold or dark copper. Beeches are found from southern Canada to east Texas and south to Florida, but bear more nuts in the northern part of their range.

The hard, strong wood of the beech is made into tool handles, shoe lasts, woodenware, veneer, and inexpensive furniture. The inner bark has been dried, ground and used for flour in lean times. Mattresses used to be stuffed with the leaves, which are springy and last for several seasons.

The tree bears small, four-part, bristly burrs that ripen around October and open to reveal two triangular nuts. The kernels are tiny, but sweet and nourishing. Roasted and ground, beech nuts are said to make a pleasing coffee substitute.

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