Nothing is known about the real
origin of these plants, but according to an old document, it seems that
about the year 1190 the purple beeches of Buch were already enjoying
some renown, and attracting large numbers of pilgrims, owing to some old
legend. The church of Embrach is said to have been built in connection
with this legend, and was a goal for pilgrimages during many centuries.
A second native locality of the purple beech is found in a forest near
Sondershausen in Thuringen, Germany, where a fine group of these trees
is to be seen. They were mentioned for the first time in the latter half
of the eighteenth century, but must have been old specimens long before
that time. The third locality seems to be of much later origin. It is a
forest near Roveredo in South Tyrol, where a new [595] university is
being erected. It is only a century ago that the first specimens of the
purple beech were discovered there.
As it is very improbable that the two last named localities should have
received their purple beeches from the first named forest, it seems
reasonable to assume that the variety must have been produced at least
thrice.
The purple beech is now exceedingly common in cultivation. But Jaggi
succeeded in showing that all the plants owe their origin to the
original trees mentioned above, and are, including nearly all cultivated
specimens with the sole exception of the vicinity of Buch, probably
derived from the trees in Thuringen.
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