On a hot, muggy day last weekend, we drove to the Big Hammock Natural Area in Tatnall County deep in South Georgia to see one of the state's rarest but most beautiful native plants, a small tree known as the Georgia plume.

It gets its common name from the beautiful plume-like spikes of fragrant white flowers that appear this time of year. The spikes are up to a foot long, and the plant in full bloom can be very showy. With the exception of the Southern magnolia, no other native tree possesses such eye-catching white flowers in early summer.

Charles Seabrook / AJC Special (ENLARGE)

An Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly visits the blossoms of a Georgia plume in South Georgia's Big Hammock Natural Area.

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Indeed, we members of the Georgia Botanical Society found the Georgia plume in spectacular bloom, though slightly past its peak, along the nature trail in the Big Hammock Natural Area. The blossoms were attracting large numbers of Eastern tiger swallowtail and black swallowtail butterflies, which added dashes of color to an already gorgeous scene. It put me in the mood for the big butterfly count we're doing this weekend in the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in Middle Georgia.

Because the Georgia plume is one of the state's rarest native trees, it is on the state's protected plant list, explained our leader, Lisa Kruse, a botanist with the state Department of Natural Resources. It's known to exist only in Georgia, in about three dozen locations in 19 counties in the state. It once existed in South Carolina but is no longer found there, Kruse said.

Most of the known populations of the Georgia plume are relatively small. The Big Hammock Natural Area harbors the largest remaining colony of the species.

The famed naturalist William Bartram first observed and collected the Georgia plume in 1773 somewhere near the Savannah River. It was not collected again until 1808, when South Carolina botanist Stephen Elliott found it near Waynesboro in Burke County. The plant's scientific name, Elliottia racemosa, is in honor of Elliott. The Georgia plume, though, is so rare in nature that no wild populations were known from about 1875 until it was "rediscovered" in 1901.

It appears to suffer from major reproductive problems, such as producing very few viable seeds. University of Georgia researchers studying the Georgia plume are trying to grow it in the lab to determine whether they can help improve its reproductive success. But the plant has been slow in giving up its secrets.

The plant also faces the additional threats of habitat loss due to logging, conversion of forests to agriculture and urbanization.

More rare species

In addition to the Georgia plume, the DNR's Georgia Natural Heritage Program lists 154 other plant species (including 22 on the federal Endangered Species list) as protected under the state's Wildflower Preservation Act of 1973. The act provides rules for the collection, transport, sale and listing of protected plants. A protected plant cannot be removed from state-owned lands without express written permission from the DNR.

On private lands, the landowner has ultimate say-so on what protection, if any, will be given to listed plants. In essence, that means the survival of many of Georgia's protected species depends on the goodwill and commitment of individual landowners.

Georgia's protected species also includes nine amphibians, 20 birds, 10 mammals, 16 reptiles, 57 fish and 51 invertebrates (including crayfish, mussels and insects).

To see the names of the protected species, visit the DNR's Wildlife Resources Division's Web site at www.georgiawildlife.org. Click on "conservation."

Also, a new book, "Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia," has been published by the University of Georgia Press. The guide contains more than 400 photographs and 200 detailed drawings of rare and endangered plants.

Big Hammock

A word about the Big Hammock Natural Area where we "botanized" last weekend: Because of its large Georgia plume population and its other rare plants, animals and unique qualities, the 800-acre preserve was designated a natural landmark by the National Park Service in 1976. Its 1.3-mile nature trail winds through several natural communities on an ancient sand dune in the Altamaha River flood plain. The piney flatwoods near the start of the trail change to an oak forest as you ascend the sand ridge.

Adjacent to the natural area is the 6,000-acre Big Hammock Wildlife Management Area. Directions to the natural area: Take Georgia 144 west out of Glennville in Tatnall County; turn onto County Road 441 and go a mile to the parking area.

In the sky

The moon will be new on Tuesday and thus can't be seen for a couple of days. But look for the crescent moon on Thursday just after sunset, says astronomer David Dundee with the Northwest Georgia Museum of Science. Mercury is low in the west just after sunset. About the same time, Venus appears very low in the west. Mars and Saturn set in the west about three hours after sunset. Jupiter rises out of the east at sunset.