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Theaceae
Franklinia

not marked as a favorite taxon Franklinia Bartram ex Marshall. Common name: Franklinia.

A monotypic genus, apparently endemic to e. GA (now presumably extinct in the wild). Prince & Parks (2001) and Li et al. (2019) suggest that Franklinia is actually most closely related to the Asian genus Schima (Prince & Parks 2001; Li et al. 2019); its closest relative in North America is Gordonia, from which it differs in its deciduous leaves (vs. evergreen) and globose fruits (vs. pointed). Zhang et al. (2022) stated that "under the deep reticulation scenario..., Franklinia alatamaha (the only extant species of the genus, distributed in eastern North America) descends from a putative ancient hybridization event between the common ancestor of Gordonia (endemic to North and Central America) and the common ancestor of Schima (endemic to Asia).

Glossary (beta!)

Tribe: Gordonieae.

References: Bozeman & Rogers (1986); Prince (2009) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2009); Stevens, Dressler, & Weitzman In Kubitzki et al. (2004); Zhang et al. (2022). Show full citations.

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image #1 of Franklinia© Paul Marcum | Franklinia alatamaha source | Original Image ⭷

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