Franklinia alatamaha W.Bartram ex Marshall (1785:49)

Franklin tree

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonyms: Gordonia franklinii L'Hér. in Stirp. Nov.: 156 (1791), nom. superfl.; Gordonia alatamaha (Marshall) Sarg. in Gard. & Forest 2: 616 (1889); Franklinia alatamala W.Bartram ex Marshall [orth. error used by Vargas, 2023]; Gordonia pubescens L'Hér. in Stirp. Nov.: 156 (1791), nom. illeg.; Lacathea florida Salisb. in Parad. Lond. 1: t. 56 (1806); Gordonia pubescens var. subglabra DC. in Prodr. 1: 528 (1824); Gordonia pubescens var. velutina DC. in Prodr. 1: 528 (1824)

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

Conservation Status

Extinct in the Wild (Ripley, 1975:47; Lucas & Synge, 1978:519; Knapp et al., 2021; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2024; POWO, 2024)

Last wild record (disputed): 29-30 May 1803 (Ewan & Nesta, 1963; Ripley, 1975:47 [as 1803]); 1 June 1803 (Lucas & Synge, 1978:519)

IUCN RedList 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, southeastern USA

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.

Barnhart, J. H. (1933). Franklinia alatamaha. Addisonia 18: 13-14 & t. 583.

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.

Bean, W. J. (1973). Trees & Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles 2, 8th Ed. John Murray, London. [pp . 207-208]

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.

Chapman, A. W. (1863). Flora of the southern United States: containing an abridged description of the flowering plants and ferns of Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida: arranged according to the natural system, first edition. American Book Company, NY.

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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

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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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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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