The following works fine:
g <- make_tree(7,2)
plot(g, layout=layout.sugiyama(g)$layout)
However, when g happens to be a singleton then an error occurs:
Error in norm_coords(layout, -1, 1, -1, 1) : 'layout' not a matrix
A workaround is not difficult:
lll <- layout.sugiyama(g)$layout
if (vcount(g) == 1) dim(lll) <- c(1,2)
plot(g, layout=lll)
or
plot(g, layout=matrix(layout.sugiyama(g)$layout, ncol=2) )
I assume this is a (minor) igraph R package issue (?)