Mexican Sycamore - San Antonio, TX
N 29° 27.880 W 098° 28.857
14R E 550328 N 3259580
The Texas Champion Mexican Sycamore tree (platanus mexicans) is one of only three trees within Bexar County, Texas that are listed on the Texas Forest Service's Big Tree Survey. This tree is accessible to the public.
Waymark Code: WM11QG9
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2019
Views: 1
The tree is on the campus of Trinity University, which is private school. However, Trinity University allows public access and use to its jogging trail and disc golf course where this Champion Mexican Sycamore tree is located.
The official address of Trinity University is 1 Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212. However, there is no actual city street named "Trinity Place" but the centralized student center building where the mail center is located along with a gift shop and fast food restaurants is what is identified as 1 Trinity Place when Googled on a map. Head north from there and you will eventually find the open park area containing some giant Sycamore trees, a jogging trail, and a disc golf course. This park area is the northeast corner of the campus, bounded by Hildebrand Avenue and Devine Drive. The largest Mexican Sycamore tree in Texas grows in a shallow, natural drainage ditch between the information board for the disc golf course and the disc golf's 1st tee pad.
There is an outdoor information board near a parking lot in front of the Laurie Auditorium along North Campus Drive. This information board shows the layout of the six disc golf tee pads and the respective baskets. Between the information board and the 1st tee pad stands the largest Mexican Sycamore tree in Texas. It is about 58 feet away from the information board and about 25 feet away from the tee pad area. This sycamore tree was certified by the Texas Forest Service as the largest of its kind in 2003. The tree was last officially measured in 2012 and retains its Champion designation. It is these TFS official measurements that are given below as the tree's data points. As of 2012, the circumference was 114 inches (9.5 ft). Height was 72 feet, and canopy spread was 77 feet wide.
There are three other smaller but mature Sycamore trees also growing nearby the natural drainage ditch, as are other kinds of trees. It is not too hard to find the biggest tree among the small grove of trees. From a distance the tops of the trees look pretty even, but at ground level, this Champion Sycamore tree is several feet lower in the ditch than all the others. In the Spring and Summer, the large leaves of the Sycamore provide a deep shade under their branches, but during the Fall and Winter months, the leaves drop off and the limbs are bare.
Link to The Rivera Report article about this Champion Mexican Sycamore tree:
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