Lyons, Anne Marie
About Anne Marie Lyons
Anne Marie Lyons was born in 1945, and she passed away in 1995. She received her MBA in 1983. Ms. Lyons’s tree was donated by Mr. Robert H. Smith. If you have more information on Anne Marie Lyons, please contact Meg Smolinski (msmolins@umd.edu) at the University of Maryland Arboretum and Botanical Gardens.
About the European Beech
The memorial tree dedicated to Anne Marie Lyons is located on the east side of Van Munching hall, right near the entrance to the North Wing. 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
