Favoritos de castilleja23

This observation of a locally well known tree, that others have documented previously, is to record its apparent demise on August 26 or 27, 2023. When I discovered on September 1st that it had fallen, it had already been cut into several pieces and dragged off the roadway, but its leaves were only partly withered, and a local Wheeling newspaper was reporting that the hollow tree had collapsed the previous weekend.

This tree had been determined to be the largest living tree in West Virginia since 1963. Its successor is now also a Sycamore, but on private land and not accessible to the public.

In life, this majestic 200-300 year old Sycamore had attained a height of 35.6 meters (117 feet), and spread of 39 meters (128 feet), with a trunk girth of about 7.9 meters (nearly 26 feet). It is not clear to me that this tree is actually dead though - the huge hollow stump has a few small twigs and leaves on it, so one might still have to check on it periodically. How does one tell the "time of death" of a tree?

It was fascinating to be able to inspect all parts of this enormous fallen giant up close, inside and out.

This was along Wheeling Creek in Marshall County, West Virginia, at an elevation of about 250 meters (820 feet).