Benjamin Franklin

The Belvedere Daily Republican, out of Belvedere Illinois, published a small article about a tree named for Benjamin Franklin.

Here's what it said:

"About 200 years ago, John Bartram, an eminent botanist, discovered a strange flowering tree in a Georgia forest and named it "Franklinia" in honor of his fellow Philadelphian, Benjamin Franklin."

The discovery of the Franklinia made John Bartram famous.

The Franklinia is in the tea family, and it has blossoms similar to the Camellia.

Thirty years after Bartram's discovery, the Franklinia went extinct in the wild - the last one was seen in 1803 - and the only surviving Franklinias are descended from the original seed and the work of Bartram's Garden, North America's oldest botanic garden, who worked to preserve the species. Bartram himself lovingly cultivated the Franklinia.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said,

"I have thought that wildflowers might be the alphabet of angels."