One of the largest and oldest trees in Missouri, this registered champion American Beech is approximately 200 years old and may have been alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is the only native North American species of beech. A slow-growing hardwood, beeches may live 300-400 years and attain heights of 70-120 feet. Beech trees are typically found in the hardwood forests of the eastern United States, and Cape Girardeau lies at the edge of the species' growth range, where the beech-maple forests of Illinois and Indiana give way to the oak-hickory forests of Missouri.