A lovely and rare tree. Seen by John Bartam and his brother William in 1765 along the banks of the Alatamaha River in Geogia. John collected seeds which he planted and cultivated at his home near Philadelphia
He named the tree Franklinia in honor of his father’s friend, Benjamin Franklin. The tree has not been seen in the wild since the early 1800’s. All current Franklinia trees are descendents of those seeds John Bartram collected almost 260 years ago.