The biggest sycamore.

The reigning champion of our largest hardwood species can inspire some regal goofing off.

According to Herodotus, the Greeks owed some of their success to the charm of the plane tree. In 480 BC, King Xerxes camped his Persian army in a grove of those stately trees, distinguished by their smooth, dappled trunks. Apparently the king was so enamored by them that he put off his conquest of Greece for a few days. This lollygagging cost Xerxes the war, and Greece went on to build the Athenian Empire.

Americans may not have lost battles because of this tree, but who among us has not paused for a moment of peace or to admire the trunk of a plane tree? By a circuitous etymology, you probably know our eastern species (Platanus occidentalis) better by the name of sycamore. We named it after the superficially similar sycamore of England (Acer pseudoplatanus), which is actually a maple. The English named their tree after the Biblical sycamore (Ficus sycamorous), which is actually a fig. This is the original sycamore, a Greek name meaning a fig that looks like a mulberry. And in Scotland, where true plane trees are rare, the English sycamore (a maple) is called a plane. Go figure.

By any name, our version of the sycamore is known as the largest of the American hardwoods. Before the eastern forests were leveled, 500-year-old sycamores with girths of over 40 feet were not uncommon. Many of these giants were hollow, and some were cavernous enough to serve as temporary lodging for pioneers. Two West Virginia brothers once lived in a sycamore for three years. Sycamores have also been home to many species of wildlife including the extinct Carolina parakeet and the endangered Indiana bat.

The champion sycamore, with 737 points, ranks seventh among all champions in total score. Although it wouldn't make a home, it is certainly a tree that inspires lollygagging. But as King Xerxes might say, that's no way to build an empire.