The Ravine Trail Sycamore

The claim attached to this sycamore is a rumour, and we are keeping it one. Houstonia magazine's 2022 guide to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center describes a leviathan sycamore on the Ravine Trail, rumored to be the oldest of its species in Harris County. Rumored is the magazine's word, and it is ours too. We have found no register entry, no measurement and no ring count behind it, and the arboretum's own trail pages do not mention this tree at all. What is not in doubt is where to look. The Ravine Trail runs through the northwest corner of the arboretum, crossing a water-filled ravine on a series of bridges, and the big trees along it are seen from the boardwalk. The arboretum is free to enter, so the only cost of checking the rumour for yourself is the parking. One caution before you decide you have found it. The arboretum's own pages say sycamores also grow tall on the Couch Birding Trail, so a big sycamore elsewhere in the grounds is not necessarily this one. The one the magazine meant is on the Ravine Trail. Nobody has published its age, its girth or its height. If you go with a tape measure, take the trunk's circumference at chest height and tell us; it is the quickest way to find out whether the rumour stands up. Our pin marks the arboretum entrance, not the tree, and the ravine may be several hundred metres from it.