The Chinese Beech of the Castle Park

The national register lists this tree's species as European beech. The register's own description of it disagrees, at length. What that description says is that this is a Chinese beech, Fagus engleriana, a species almost nobody plants here, and that as far as anyone knows it is the oldest and thickest one in the Netherlands. It also says the thing that makes it worth the detour: it does not stand out. In grounds holding a silver maple, a silver lime, two horse chestnuts and a century-old oak, the rare tree is the plain one. The register files it under three headings that between them explain the confusion. Rare species in the region. Of national importance. Clearly visible to the public. It is grafted, low to the ground, onto the rootstock of an ordinary European beech, which is presumably where the species field got its answer. A nurseryman quoted in the entry gives the reason for the graft: seed of this species will not germinate in this country, so a Chinese beech in Dutch soil has to be carried on Dutch roots. The town's own records put the planting at 1930. The single independent record of its size gives 2.06 metres round and 16.4 metres tall. For a European beech that would be ordinary. For this species in this country it is, apparently, the record. Nobody has checked that ranking. If you know of a bigger one, tell us.