PlantFiles Pictures: Franklinia Tree (Franklinia alatamaha), 0 by ViburnumValley

ViburnumValley wrote:
It appears that 'Ben's Best' is a name that ktdid2840 created for this particular individual.

The question should have been asked by the PlantFiles admins: is this name registered or published anywhere, and is there a purpose or defining characteristic that gives this plant merit as its own named selection? If not, then one could as easily call it Charley™.

Franklinia alatamaha is easily propagated from cuttings. It is likely that the mailorder company used this propagation method, or got this plant from a nursery that roots cuttings. That means that there are likely many identical plants growing elsewhere, and ascribing a unique name to this one would usually be considered invalid.

If this were a seed-grown plant with unique characteristics that merited definition, or a mutation from a standard plant that was then propagated, then by all means name it, patent or copyright it, and collect the royalties in due course as the horticultural world stampedes to be first in line to have one.

Somewhere out there is an effort to catalog all the Franklinia alatamaha plants in cultivation. It may be under the auspices of Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia - my memory of where I read about that fails me at the moment. ktdid2840 ought to make sure they know about this specimen.