September seems to be slipping by really fast, although technically it just seems that way. Perhaps that’s because as of Sunday morning, we’re officially in fall, or autumn. On the day of the fall ...

On a recent walk through a beech forest, I noticed a large number of small, unobtrusive fall wildflowers - beechdrops. These are one of my favorite wildflowers, primarily because (spoiler alert) they ...

Beech drops among fallen beech leaves at Mount Loretto. (Clay Wollney) The answer is, nothing, really. In fact, the opposite is true. Beech drops are parasitic plants -- epifagus virginiana -- that ...

Beech trees vary their annual seed production in step, often on a continental scale. They do this to increase the efficiency of their reproduction. A small moth, Cydia fagiglandana, lays its eggs in ...