Beeches are distributed widely in North America and Eurasia and extend through the Malay Archipelago to eastern Australia and New Zealand.
The copper beech, with late-appearing, copper-colored leaves, and the weeping beech, with hanging branches, are cultivated varieties of the European beech.
Southernbeeches are exploited for timber and indirectly as food: Fungi that grow on some are eaten, and the wood of others, partially rotted, is used as cattle feed.