For Joseph Gochar, a leisurely stroll in the woods led him on the trail to a mammoth discovery -- the largest specimen in the nation of a rare tree growing on a farm in West Friendship.

The West Friendship bigleaf magnolia was recently named the largest in the nation by American Forests, a nonprofit conservation organization, which included the tree in its 2008-2009 National Register of Big Trees.

The National Register of Big Trees, which was released on April 25, National Arbor Day, lists the largest known trees, spanning 826 species, in the United States.

The Howard County tree beat out the previous national champion located on the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C.

For Gochar, the trail to the champion tree started while he was hiking several years ago in Patapsco Valley State Park, close to his Catonsville home.

During this particular stroll, Gochar noticed an unusual tree with gigantic leaves that were about two feet long.

Curious, the mechanical engineer did a little research and determined the small tree with the very big leaves must be a bigleaf magnolia, which is not considered a native species of Maryland.

Steven Koehn, director and state forester with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service, said the bigleaf magnolia lives up to its name -- its leaves can grow up to 30 inches long and the tree's flowers can be a foot in diameter.

The tree itself, however, doesn't grow as tall as many other species of trees; usually, a bigleaf magnolia is no more than 50 feet tall and is usually found in points south of Maryland, from southern Ohio south to the Gulf Coast, Koehn said.

Soon, Gochar began to discover more of the trees within Patapsco over the next couple of years and shared news of his discoveries with his sister, Glenelg resident Sandy Brown.

"He was so into it," Brown said with a laugh. And soon, Brown was into it as well.

During a chance conversation last summer, a good friend mentioned to Brown that a tree near the home she was renting in West Friendship was shedding extraordinarily large leaves onto the ground. Suspecting the tree might be a bigleaf magnolia, Brown called her brother, and they visited the West Friendship farm to check out the tree.

It was indeed a bigleaf magnolia, and it was larger than the other trees Gochar has spotted in the past -- much larger.

After discovering the large bigleaf magnolia in West Friendship, Gochar contacted John Bennet, volunteer coordinator for the Maryland Big Tree Program, which is managed by the Maryland Association of Forest Conservancy District Boards.

Because bigleaf magnolias usually grow farther south than Maryland, finding one here "was quite a surprise," Bennet said.

Bennet described magnolias as generally being "a tender species" that is thought to be susceptible to ice damage.

Bennet said he received permission from the property owner to measure the tree in order to submit it for consideration to the National Register of Big Trees. The West Friendship bigleaf magnolia came in at 55 feet high with a circumference of 145 inches, which is a little over 12 feet, Bennet said.

"For this species, it really is quite large," he added.

Bennet said the property owner, who wishes to keep the location of the tree private in the interest of protecting it, maintains the trees on the estate very well. The tree is estimated to be between 110 and 120 years old and "was definitely planted," Bennet said.

The West Friendship bigleaf magnolia is not the only one in the area. There is a naturally occurring grove of smaller bigleaf magnolia trees in Patapsco Valley State Park, Bennet said. Forestry experts are trying to determine if the bigleaf trees in Patapsco are younger relations of the nearby champion tree in West Friendship, Bennet added.

For Gochar, the excitement of discovering the resident bigleaf magnolias continues. The trees are set to bloom in the next couple of weeks, and Gochar has been checking the nearby trees in Patapsco daily to catch sight of the foot-wide blooms.

"They only bloom for a day or so," he said, adding that he wanted to be sure not to miss the show.

E-mail Sarah Daniels at sdaniels@patuxent.com.

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