Lost Franklinia (Franklinia alatamaha) The Lost Franklinia is apparently extinct in the wild. All known living specimens are cultivated plants probably descended from a few trees (or possibly just one tree) grown in the garden of the eighteenth-century botanists John and William Bartram. The Bartrams discovered the species in 1765, when they found a small stand of the trees growing on a sand hill beside the Altamaha River in coastal Georgia. These trees disappeared within the next few decades, possibly destroyed by land clearing activities in the area. Despite numerous searches, no other wild specimens have ever been found. The Franklinia is also called Ben Franklin Tree, or Franklin Tree, a name given to it by the Bartrams in honor of their friend Benjamin Franklin. The species name "alatamaha" is an old spelling for the name of the river on which the plant was
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 22:24:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015