The Bartrams

Since moving here in 1997 I have been fascinated with the history of Florida: Native Americans of Florida, settlement by Europeans and their adaptations to the state, and especially the finding of new plants and animals by those settlers. The people I have found most fascinating are the explorer scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries.

These intrepid botanists trekked deep into a wild Florida. Think for a second of the most overgrown or palmetto laden park you have visited in the state and then picture the need to traverse that landscape without trails. No modern camping equipment, no bug spray and no sunscreen, just hundreds of miles of the unexplored. The idea of walking from Tampa Bay to St Augustine under such conditions sounds absurd, but it was done.

Two of the best known explorer scientists who were active in Florida were the Bartrams: A father and son team who travelled the St. Johns River upstream (south) until the water became impassable by boat.

John Bartram: (1699-1777) John Bartram was an American born self-taught botanist. Appointed Royal Botanist in 1765 as was dispatched to the new colonies of British West Florida and British East Florida that had recently been formed from lands ceded by the French and Spanish in the 1763 Treaty of Paris.

John Bartram in his late 60’s and his son William traveled Florida from 1765 to 1766 cataloging the plants they encountered. These travels were recorded in John Bartram’s Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida. On his travels John Bartram noted the soil types of places he explored, the native plants that grew there, the locations of fresh water springs and possible uses for the lands he saw.

Many of the sites noted by Bartram are known to us in modern times and can still be visited. This online edition of John Bartram’s Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida gives modern names and locations for the places Bartram mentions and also provides photographs of the river the Bartrams traversed.

William Bartram: American born naturalist William Bartram (1739-1823) was the son of John Bartram and his second wife. Bartram traveled the North American Southeast as part of a survey party in the late 1770’s. He noted the species of plants and animals he observed, land features that he encountered and also described the clothing and customs of the indigenous peoples he met.

His travels and observations were published as a book entitled Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida but now often known as Bartram’s Travels. Published in 1791, the book became wildly popular in the young nation of the United States of America and later in Europe. The volume established William Bartram as a respected and influential naturalist of the North American continent and was used as a definitive guide to the flora of the Southeast.

William Bartram was the first person to collect, describe or name some 130 species of plants and animals that were unknown to science at the time. A list of the plants and animals that he was first to describe is available at the Bartram Trail website and includes the Zebra Longwing butterfly.

The Franklin Tree: The Bartrams were the first to record the existence of what has been termed America’s first rare plant: The Franklin Tree (Franklinia alatamaha). The father and son team found a singular grove of these shrubby trees along the Altamaha River in the British colony of Georgia. William Bartram returned to this spot near Fort Barrington several times to collect seeds. In all of their travels, no other pockets of this tree were ever found.

The Franklin tree was named by John Bartram after his friend Benjamin Franklin and was last reported to be seen in the wild in 1803. Considered extinct in the wild, the Franklin Tree survives only in cultivation and all living Franklin Trees descend from the seeds collected by the Bartrams. Franklin Trees are notoriously difficult to grow, are deciduous and produce lovely white flowers.

Here are just a few of the plants and animals named for the Bartrams:

• Bartrams Ixia (Calydorea caelestina)
• Bartram’s Airplant (Tillandsia bartramii)
• Pyramid Magnolia (Magnolia pyramidata Bartram)
• Patagonia Mountain leatherpetal (Graptopetalum bartramii)
• Bartrams Tortula Moss (Syntrichia bartramii)
• Bartramiaceae is a moss family with 386 species
• Brown Kurrajong (Commersonia bartramii)
• Mountain Serviceberry (Amelanchier bartramii)
• Bartram's rose gentian (Sabatia bartramii)
• Bartram's squid (Ommastrephes bartramii)
• Upland Sandpiper (Bartramia longicauda)
• Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon acis) which is a rare butterfly only found in extreme South Florida.