Hello, I’ve been following Fagus sylvatica observations and quite often this species has been reported from the USA. I’ve been puzzled by this and today I checked out several such observations where either leaves or nuts were well visible to identify the species and many of them were actually Fagus grandifolia, a native American species (F. sylvatica is native to Europe).
My question is thus for those who know more about US forestry: Is the European F. sylvatica cultivated in the USA (in a larger scope) in forests? Is it commonly planted in parks? How likely is it many observations from the USA where only the tree is visible (without a detailed view of the leaves/nuts) are actually F. grandifolia and F. sylvatica was perhaps only suggested by the auto ID? If it is the case, can the auto ID be tweaked to suggest F. grandifolia for observations from the USA if the exact species cannot be clearly identified from a photo?
I’m just curious. I’ve never met F. grandifolia in Europe in a forest or a park, only in specialized arboreta.