John Bartram

John Bartram (born March 23, 1699, near Darby, Pa. [U.S.]—died Sept. 22, 1777, Kingsessing, Pa., U.S.) was a naturalist and explorer considered the “father of American botany.” Largely self-educated, Bartram was a friend of Benjamin Franklin and an original member of the American Philosophical Society. He was botanist for the American colonies to King George III. Bartram was the first North American experimenter to hybridize flowering plants, and he established near Philadelphia a botanical garden...