Common beech Fagus sylvatica

If it is not cut down and turned into chairs, a beech tree can grow for anything up to 300 years and to 40m in height. As well as its contribution to the furniture industry, the beech provides shade, nuts and, indirectly, the nickname of a football club.

The common beech (Fagus sylvatica), like the hazel, has been used for centuries for its wood, specifically in making furniture. The Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire are home to huge beech forests and in the past, chairmakers, also known as 'bodgers', actually worked in the woods themselves.

In 1887 a group of sport-minded furniture makers from High Wycombe, then the centre of the industry, founded Wycombe Wanderers Football Club. To this day, the team's nickname is The Chairboys.

Beech timber is ideal for chairs as it bends without breaking, has a fine grain and is relatively free of knots. As a result, it is a tree that has a history of being pollarded. Pollarding is the practice of removing all the branches to stimulate the growth of new, smaller shoots. Beech tends not to be used for building as it decays quickly without protection and is not strong enough to bear any great weight.

The size and shape of Fagus sylvatica depends on its environment. Pollarding is no longer common but evidence of it still remains in woods across the south of England, its native habitat. Given space to breathe, the beech will spread its branches out wide and can grow up to a massive 42m (140ft) high.

In tightly packed woods, the tree will grow straight with few side branches in a bid to reach the light. This becomes an even greater priority as the year progresses. The arrangement of leaves is such that they overlap, which, while efficient for the tree, shades the ground beneath and can also prevent rain from reaching it. So if the floor of the wood you're walking through comprises of little more than fungi and rotting leaves, it's probably a beech wood.