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The Lost Franklinia is a tall shrub or small tree and grows to a height of 10 to 20 feet. The leaves are alternate, simple, 5 to 6 inches long, oval, and gradually narrow into a short stem. They have fine teeth, are dark green above, and paler with fine hairs beneath. The bark is smooth and gray, with vertical lines. The flowers are white, five petaled, and have a yellow center. They are 3 to 3 1/2 inches wide, fragrant, and slightly cup-shaped, blooming from late July into early September. The fruit is a woody pod that has five sections, 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter, and splitting into ten segments. Several flattened seeds are contained in each section, and it becomes ripe in the autumn. There is a rumor that there are no Franklinia plants in the wild, and all plants sold today are from the first and only one discovered in the wild by John Bartram by the Altamaha River in Georgia in 1790.
Information about this plant from the USDA Plants Database.
Information from the TreeGuide from Athenic Systems.
This page was last updated 11 Jun 2003.