Franklinia tree returns to its original south Georgia home

DARIEN - The Franklinia alatamaha tree, believed to have been extinct in the wild since the 1930s, has been reintroduced in south Georgia to the only area where it was ever found in nature. <br> <br> Nate Thomas of the Nature Conservancy of Georgia and Carol Helton of the Atlanta Botanical Garden placed soil around the first of ten plants Tuesday along the Altamaha River in McIntosh County. <br> <br> They were provided by a Pennsylvania horticulturist. <br> <br> In 1765, Philadelphia botanists John and William Bartram discovered the small trees growing on about three acres in the Altamaha River basin and named the flowering trees after John Bartram&#39;s friend, Benjamin Franklin. They added the name of the river as it was spelled at the time. <br> <br> William Bartram returned later and collected seeds to propagate the plants in their Philadelphia garden and unwittingly saved the Franklinia tree from extinction. <br> <br> All existing Franklinias, which can be found in plant nurseries and home gardens, were propagated from the seeds William Bartram collected in the 18th century. <br> <br> Tuesday, Thomas cleared out underbrush on a shaded plot overlooking a wetlands area, and Helton planted five trees there and another five at a nearby site.