Christoff Family Tree
About the Christoff Family
This tree is in memory Brian and Patrick Christoff Sr. and also honors Emma Christoff as the third generation of the Christoff family to attend the University of Maryland.
About the Riversii European beech
This tree is located at the southeast corner of Martin Hall. It is a European beech (Fagus sylvatica), a large deciduous tree known for its smooth, gray bark, short trunk and low branches.1 It is distinguished from the similar American beech (Fagus grandifolia) through its shorter stature, darker bark and shorter leaves. This tree is native to central and southern Europe and was brought to America by European colonists in the mid-1700s. Its species designation, sylvatica, is Latin for “growing in woods” or “forest-loving,” a perfect description of a large, shade-providing tree. The European beech usually grows to 50-60 feet tall with a dense, rounded-spreading crown of foliage and a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet. This specific tree is fairly young, so it is 19.6 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 6.1 inches and crown radius average of 9.0 feet. The European beech has oval-shaped to elliptical, wavy, dark green leaves with parallel veins, and they turn a golden bronze in autumn. Yellow-green flowers bloom in April-May, with male flowers in globular clusters and female flowers in short spikes. The female flowers form triangular beechnuts that ripen in the fall and are technically edible, although eating them is not recommended or encouraged on campus.2
The Riversii cultivar has deep purple foliage that holds this color into the summer and the new spring leaves can be such a dark purple as to be difficult to properly photograph.3
- https://www.mortonarb.org/trees-plants/tree-plant-descriptions/european…
- http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.a…
- Dirr, M. A. (1990). Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. Stipes, Champaign, IL, page 373