Franklinia alatamaha W.Bartram ex Marshall

Franklin tree

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonyms: Gordonia alatamaha (Bartr. ex Marsh.) Sarg.; Gordonia pubescens L=Hér.; Franklinia alatamala W.Bartram ex Marshall [orth. error used by Vargas, 2023]

A cultivar, Franklinia alatamaha cv. 'Wintonbury', has been produced.

Conservation Status

Extinct in the wild (Knapp et al., 2021)

Last record: 29-30 May 1803 (Ewan & Nesta, 1963)

IUCN status: Extinct in the Wild

"Franklinia alatamaha is Extinct in the Wild. It has not been seen in the wild since 1803 despite numerous attempts to relocate it. It is successfully grown in many botanic gardens and arboreta around the world."

(Rivers, 2015)

Distribution

McIntosh County, Altamaha River valley, Georgia, United States (southeastern)

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

Above: watercolour of Franklinia by William Bartram (1788). Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Above: specimen at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts. Taken by Plant Image Library (flickr user) on 18 August 2017. Released under CC BY-SA 2.0 license. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Above: specimen in flower at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts. Taken by Plant Image Library (flickr user) on 18 August 2017. Released under CC BY-SA 2.0 license. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Above: autumn leaves of a specimen at the Tyler Arboretum, Middletown Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Photo ©2007 Derek Ramsey. Released under a CC BY-SA 2.5 license. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Above: specimen in fruit at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts. Taken by Plant Image Library (flickr user) on 30 March 2017. Released under CC BY-SA 2.0 license. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Above: seed capsule of Franklinia alatamaha specimen at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts. Taken by Plant Image Library (flickr user) on 30 March 2017. Released under CC BY-SA 2.0 license. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

References

Original scientific description:

Bartram, William. (1791). Travels Through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida,…. James & Johnson: Philadelphia. [A facsimile of the 1792 London Edition with its nine original plates, embellished with seventeen illustrations. The Beehive Press, Savannah, Georgia, 1973]

Other references:

Ackerman, W. L. and Williams, Margot. (1982). Intergeneric Crosses within Theaceae and the Successful Hybridization of Camellia japonica and C. sasanqua with Franklinia alatamaha. HortScience 17(4): 566-569.

Bartram, William. (1773-1774). Travels in Georgia and Florida, 1773-1774. A Report to Dr. John Fothergill, annotated by Francis Harper. Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 33, 2 (1943): pp. 121-242.

Beech, E., Barstow, M. and Rivers, M. (2017). The Red List of Theaceae. Richmond, U.K.: BGCI.

Beleski, D. G. (2014). Micropropagation and somatic embryogenesis in Franklinia alatamaha Bartram ex Marshall. PhD dissertation, University of Georgia.

Bozeman, John R. and Rogers, George A. (1986). ‘This very curious tree’: Despite years of searching and research the enigma of Franklinia alatamaha endures. Tipularia, (November), p. 9-15.

Cheng, L., Li, M., Han, Q., Qiao, Z., Hao, Y., Balbuena, T. S., et al. (2022). Phylogenomics resolves the phylogeny of Theaceae by using low-copy and multi-copy nuclear gene makers and uncovers a fast radiation event contributing to tea plants diversity. Biology 11:1007. doi: 10.3390/biology11071007

CPC (1990). Centre for plant conservation data for North American plants database. CPC, Centre for plant conservation.

Dalrymple, S. E., Abeli, T., Ewen, J. G., Gilbert, T. C., Hogg, C. J., Lloyd, N. A., Moehrenschlager, A., Rodríguez, J. P. and Smith, D. (2023). Addressing Threats and Ecosystem Intactness to Enable Action for Extinct in the Wild Species. Diversity 15: 268. https://doi.org/10.3390/d15020268

Dirr, Michael A. (1998). Manual of Woody Landscape Plants: Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses. Stipes Publishing L.L.C.: Champaign, IL.

Dirr, Michael A. and Heuser, C. W., Jnr. (1987). The reference manual of woody plant propagation: from seed to tissue culture. Athens, GA: Varsity Press. 239 pp.

Elias, T. S. (1989). Field guide to North American trees. Danbury, CT: Grolier Book Clubs. 948 pp.

Enright, Kelly. (2022). Dreaming of Rediscovery: Botanists, Extinction, and the Tree That Sets the Brain on Fire. Environmental History. https://doi.org/10.1086/721071

Everett, T. H. (1981). The New York Botanical Garden illustrated encyclopedia of horticulture. New York: Garland Publishing. 3601 pp.

Ewan, Joseph and Ewan, Nesta. (1963). John Lyon, Nurseryman and Plant Hunter, and His Journal, 1799-1814. Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 53(2): 22-23.

Farmer, R. E. and Chase, S. B. (1977). Germination and Container Production of Franklinia. HortScience 12(1): 43.

Fogg, J. M., Jr. (1963). Winter Damage, 1962-1963. Morris Arboretum Bull. 14: pp. 26.

Fry, Joel T. (2000). Franklinia alatamaha, A History of that ‘Very Curious’ Shrub, Part 1: Discovery and Naming of the Franklinia. Bartram Broadside, (Spring), p. 1-24.

Fry, Joel T. (2017). Case study 3: Franklinia alatamaha, Franklin tree, p. 12. In: Beech, E., Barstow, M. and Rivers, M. The Red List of Theaceae. Richmond, U.K.: BGCI.

Gladfelter, Heather J. et al. (2020a). Adventitious shoot-based propagation of Franklinia alatamaha for commercial horticulture and restoration. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Plant. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-020-10087-8

Gladfelter, Heather J. et al. (2020b). Genetic diversity and population structure analysis of Franklinia alatamaha, a tree species existing only in cultivation. Tree Genetics & Genomes 16: 60. [Abstract]

Griffin, J. J. and Blazich, F. A. (2001?). Franklinia alatamaha Bartr. ex Marsh. In: Woody Plant Seed Manual.

Harper, F. and Leeds, A. N. (1937). A supplementary chapter on Franklinia alatamaha. Bartonia 19: 1-13.

Hawkes, J. G., Maxted, N. and Ford-Lloyd, B. V. (2000). Field Gene Banks, Botanic Gardens In Vitro, DNA and Pollen Conservation, pp. 92-107. In: The Ex Situ Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]

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Jenkins, Charles F. (1933). The Historical Background of Franklin's Tree. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 58(3): 193-208. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20086836

Joshi, V. C. and Khan, I. A. (2008). Franklinia alatamaha Bartr. Ex Marsh (Theaceae) a Monotypic Genus; Is it the lost Camellia or Gordonia?. Planta Medica 74(3): P-3. doi:10.1055/s-2008-1075199

Judd, W. H. (1930). The fruiting of franklinia. Horticulture 8(5): 103.

Knapp, Wesley M., Frances, Anne, Noss, Reed, Naczi, Robert F. C., Weakley, Alan, Gann, George D., Baldwin, Bruce G., Miller, James, McIntyre, Patrick, Mishler, Brent D., Moore, Gerry, Olmstead, Richard G., Strong, Anna, Kennedy, Kathryn, Heidel, Bonnie and Gluesenkamp, Daniel. (2021). Vascular plant extinction in the continental United States and Canada. Conservation Biology 35(1): 360-368. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13621 [Supporting Information (Appendix S1)]

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Orton, Elwin R., Jr. (1977). Successful Hybridization of Gordonia lasianthus (L.) Ellis x Franklinia alatamaha Marshall. American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta 11(4): 81-84.

Owens, Simon J. and Rix, Martyn. (2007). Franklinia alatamaha: Theaceae. Curtis' Botanical Magazine 24(3): 186-189. [Abstract]

Plummer, Gayther L. (1977). Franklinia Alatamaha Bartram ex Marshall: The Lost Gordonia (Theaceae). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 121(6): 475-482. https://www.jstor.org/stable/986394

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Ranney, Thomas G., Eaker, Thomas A., Frantz, Paul R. and Parks, Clifford R. (2003). x Schimlinia floridbunda (Theaceae): A New Intergeneric Hybrid between Franklinia alatamaha and Schima argentea. HortScience 38(6): 1198-1200. [October]

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Schoonderwoerd, Kristel M. and Friedman, William E. (2016). Zygotic dormancy underlies prolonged seed development in Franklinia alatamaha (Theaceae): a most unusual case of reproductive phenology in angiosperms. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 181(1): 70-83. https://doi.org/10.1111/boj.12409

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Wildman, A. (1996). Franklinia alatamaha: Franklin tree. Arbor Age 16(6): 20.

Wherry, Edgar T. (1928). The history of the Franklin tree, Franklinia alatamaha. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 18(6): 172-176. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24522630

https://shelterislandreporter.timesreview.com/2019/10/05/tree-month-franklin-tree/

https://vanishingflora.proboards.com/thread/3457/franklin-tree-franklinia-alatamaha

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklinia

https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/48731/3010-1485_pdf.pdf?sequence=1

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