Franklin Tree

Description

Franklinia, or Franklin Tree, is grown as a small tree or a large, multi-stemmed shrub with Camellia-like, cup-shaped, sweetly-fragrant white flowers that bloom in late Summer to early Fall. Narrow, glossy dark green leaves turn shades of red, orange and purple in Fall.

Franklinia was originally discovered growing in a 2-3 acre tract along the banks of the Altamaha River in southeastern Georgia in 1765. Franklinia has never been observed growing in any other place than along the Altamaha River, and has been extinct in the wild since 1803. Land along the Altamaha River was cleared for cotton plantations leading to one theory that a cotton pathogen found in the soil (carried downstream through erosion) was the main cause of the extinction of the colony. Other extinction theories include decline from climate change, destruction by man, single colony of plants was not genetically diverse enough to withstand pathogens or changing conditions, or a local disaster (flood or fire).