Tree champs live in Brooklyn

From the NY Times:

Big trees grow in Brooklyn. In fact, two of the state’s biggest.

Two trees in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden — a 97-year-old Kansas hawthorn and a Carolina holly — have become official members of the state’s Big Tree Register, which keeps track of the largest (as opposed to the oldest) trees of their species on record, as defined by a formula that includes the height, circumference and foliage of the tree.

These are the first such big trees in New York City, though over all there are approximately 150 “champion” trees that have been identified all over the state. Invasive species, like the Norway maple, are not eligible for the registry. “It’s a moral decision we are making,” said Suzanne Mattei, regional director for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which runs the register. “Invasive species choke out everything else.”

State registers cooperate with the National Register of Big Trees, which records the largest trees in the country.