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By John Trott
Winter travel can be a joy. I like to watch for the white branches of Sycamore trees and try to find the water the tree loves.
Less than one percent of a big tree is made up of living cells: those essential fragments of life are strategically located in the tips of roots to absorb wgter; at the tips of twigs to keep them growing; and in the leaves as sun motors to keep the whole plant func- ' tioning.
Living cells are also present in a thin layer just under the bark to keep ’ food moving through the system and enlarge the trunk each year. An old Sycamore would have a hollow trunk where the dead cells have been broken down by carpenter ants, fungi, woodpeckers and a myriad of other elements of decomposition.
A hollow Sycamore makes a safe, dry hiding place for foxes, raccoons, ppossums and even-bears. Pileatead Woodpeckers and Wood Ducks also favor Sycamores for nesting and roosting. In earlier times a Sycamore with a diameter of seven or eight feet offered shelter for Indian hunting and war parties.
My fascination with the American Sycamore was heightened a number of years ago when I began reading about them for a botany course I was teaching. It was pleasantly daunting for me to contemplate a tree so large that a family could live in its hollow trunk while clearing the land and building a cabin. George Washington’s tree with a circumference of 45 feet would have had a diameter of fifteen feet. This would have been adequate temporary quarters for a family. It would have
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