The National Champion False-Mastic of Castellow Hammock

Hurricane Andrew was supposed to have killed this tree. After the storm of August 1992 the false mastic at Castellow Hammock was thought to have perished, and it was dropped as National Champion of its species. In October 1995, a note by R. Hammer on its register record says, it was found standing, with some crown loss and otherwise in good health. It has the title back. The Florida Forest Service lists it as the National Champion false mastic, and when the county forester, Mark Torok, remeasured it in January 2020 it was 279 centimetres round at chest height and 26.2 metres tall, with a crown about 15 by 11 metres. He recorded it as mature and healthy, the latest word on it we have found. Champion means biggest, not oldest, and nobody has published an age. If you know one, tell us. The tree grows in Castellow Hammock Preserve, 112 acres of Miami-Dade County parkland in the Redland, near Homestead, with a half-mile self-guided trail over uneven, rocky limestone. Entry is free. The county gives hours of 9:00 to 17:00 every day, while the Florida Birding Trail says Wednesday to Sunday, so check before you drive. You will need a car. One honest gap: no source says whether the champion stands beside the trail, and the register's own coordinate lands on a road about 700 metres east of the preserve, so we do not trust it. Our pin marks the middle of the preserve, not the trunk.