Text Box: ·    Who would have thought that lawns and golf courses are good for the environment?  USDA’s Agricultural Research Service found that turf grass captures and stores excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, acting as a greenhouse gas scrubber.  The study examined soil records from Denver-area golf courses and learned that trapping carbon in the soil lasts up to 31 years in fairways and 45 years in greens. ·    North Carolina is the leading producer of sweet potatoes in the United States, producing 38% of the nation’s supply on 40,000 acres. ·    When a coffee seed is planted, it takes five years to yield consumable fruit.

Text Box: Franklinia alatamaha, commonly called the Franklin tree, is native to the Altamaha River valley in Georgia in the southeastern United States.  It has been extinct in the wild since the early 19th century, but survives as a    cultivated ornamental tree.  All cultivated Franklinia today descend from  one or more collected specimens by William Bartram.  The cause of its  extinction in the wild is not known, but has been attributed to a number of  things including fire, flood, over collection by plant collectors and fungal  disease introduced with the cultivation of cotton plants.   The Franklinia tree was first observed growing along the Altamaha River in Georgia by John and William Bartram.  They brought the seed back to Philadelphia in 1777 to his botanical garden.  Franklinia alatamaha was not the first name assigned to the plant but referred to it as Gordonia, a native evergreen shrub. In 1785, Bartram assigned a new name to the plant genus Franklinia alatamaha, named in honor of his father’s great friend Benjamin Franklin.    Franklinia grows either as a shrub or a small tree, usually 15-25 feet.  Fragrant white flowers, similar to camellia blossoms appear mid-summer to early fall and may last as the tree’s leaves change color.  The leaves are 6 inches in length and turn red to purple in the fall.  The seed capsules develop slowly over 12-14 months. It has attractive grey striated bark.  Franklinia prefers sandy, high-acid soil and does not tolerate compacted clay soil, and excessive water will cause root rot.   The two oldest and largest documented specimens today are at Arnold Arboretum in Boston.  These two plants were propagated in 1905 from cuttings. 

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Text Box: Franklinia Tree Extinct in the Wild

 

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