The only genus F plant in my garden is the Franklin tree, Franklinia alatamaha, discovered growing wild in 1765 near the Alatamaha River in Georgia by John and William Bartram of Philadelphia. The Bartram brothers named the tree for their friend Benjamin Franklin and propagated it from seeds they collected. All trees in commerce today are believed to be descendants of those seeds, and the tree is believed to be extinct in the wild. Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia has a very large, mature tree; mine is much younger and is only about 12 feet high.
