What is the vanished grove of the Altamaha?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
March 14, 2002
Series: | 1 | | 2 |
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
Assorted Killer Savings Garden Links—>Click here.
Killer Picks: Wollemi Pine, greatest living fossils—>Click here.
Desk Reference to Nature's Medicine, The Amateur Naturalist, Oaxaca Journal—>Click here.
Waterproof Adventure Socks & Gloves, Weather Station, Traveler Magazine—>Click here.
John Bartram was a self-educated man and a friend of Benjamin Franklin. John made sure his son, William had an excellent education. In 1765, two remarkable things happened to John; he was awarded the title of Royal Botanist by King George III, and he and William were exploring the Altamaha River in southeast Georgia. Father and son discovered a small grove of trees which had never been seen
by the botanical world.
William returned to the grove a few years later and collected seeds to take back to the family garden. They named the tree Franklinia alatamaha to honor Franklin and the location of the only known grove. The Bartrams put the trees into cultivation. John Bartram died in 1777, but his granddaughter, Ann, and her husband, Robert Carr, took the family farm and turned it into a commercial nursery.
In 1783, Ann and Robert published the first nursery catalog in the U.S. It offered stock from that singular grove on the banks of the Altamaha. Bartram's was the only nursery to have this showy tree--fragrant autumn flowers, white petaled with a heap of yellow stamens, the foliage turning orange-red often before the tree finished flowering.
The cotton industry of the 1700s and 1800s abused the land. Cotton was repeatedly planted on the same land until the minerals were depleted, the land eroded, and a disease called root rot, Phytophthora cinnamomi, made it impossible to grow anything. The land stood abandoned while more forests fell to abuse.
No one ever collected seeds after William; no one thought that this little grove would vanish. And no one knows what happened. The tree is susceptible to root rot, but maybe someone just chopped them down. In 1803, the grove was seen for the last time.
Scattered across North America and Europe are 2042 known Franklinia all descended from the seeds collected by William Bartram.
Historic Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia has a website. To visit, click on the link:
http://www.bartramsgarden.org/franklinia/
In 1775, William Bartram was hiking across western North Carolina. He wrote in his journal "...I began again to ascend the Jore Mountains, which I at length accomplished, and rested on the most elevated peak; from whence I beheld with rapture and astonishment a sublimely awful scene of power and magnificence, a world of mountains piled upon mountains."
Two hundred and two years later, eleven people formed a society to rediscover and build the trail William Bartram walked when he explored these North Carolina mountains. The trail has seven sections, one can hike the entire 80 miles or any one of the sections; mountain bikers can pedal a 14 mile bike trail or canoeists can float 9 miles of the Little Tennessee River in section 3. The trail (section 1) connects to Bartram's trail in Georgia. The trail runs to the Cheoah Mountains north of Robbinsville.
Two hundred members of the North Carolina Bartram's Trail Society keep this trail well marked and in good repair. To learn more about this society, to join, to help maintain the trail, or to spend your vacation seeing the wilds William Bartram saw, click on the link:
http://www.ncbartramtrail.org/index.htm
Maps of the trail can be ordered at http://www.ncbartramtrail.org/maps.htm
Series: | 1 | | 2 |
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
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How did a misspelling on a map name a tree? What's in a Name? - March 15, 2002
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Killer Savings Links:
Breck's Bulbs -$25 off—>Click here.
Gurney's Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Henry Fields Seed and Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Spring Hill Nursery -$20 off—>Click here.
Gardens Alive! -$20 off—>Click here.
Michigan Bulb -$20 off—>Click here.
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Wollemi Pine
National Geographic®
Exclusively from National Geographic, this survivor from the age of the dinosaurs is one of the greatest living fossils discovered in the 20th century. The Wollemi pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest tree species, belonging to a 200-million-year-old plant family thought to have been extinct for more than two million years.
Previously known only from fossil records, it was presumed extinct until a single tree was found in the Wollemi National Park, Australia, in 1994. Subsequent research discovered 100 adult trees that have survived in a single canyon in this wild and rugged area.
Click here
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You can assist in the conservation effort and enjoy the unique opportunity to ensure the continued survival of this rare species by giving the tree as a gift or growing your own. Suitable for indoor container gardening or as a landscape tree in certain areas of the U.S.
Comes with a care manual with the full story about the discovery and fascinating history of the Wollemi pine. Comes in a copper-colored container and will be approximately 10''H when shipped. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these plants will fund ongoing conservation research.
Click here.
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National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic®
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You are invited to roam the world in the pages of National Geographic magazine. Explore the diversity of our planet's lands and inhabitants in compelling stories covering topics such as animals, nature, science, technology, culture, history, travel, adventure, exploration, and geography. The monthly National Geographic magazine is your key benefit of membership.
Additional benefits include:
- As many as five wall map supplements throughout the year in issues of the magazine
- A personalized Membership Certificate
- Special discounts on selected products
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- The privilege of traveling the world with the Society's educational travel tour programs
- The satisfaction of supporting important research, conservation, education, and exploration projects
Join the Society and bring the adventure of National Geographic into your home!
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