The 2023/24 collection for Niche Snowboards was inspired by things lost and frozen in time. Designs feature extinct plants and animals, threatened species of varying types, living fossils and more. This season's Aether features the franklinia alatamaha, or franklinia tree.
Wild franklinia has been extinct since 1803. The franklinia is a petite tree with sweetly fragrant, 5 petaled, white flowers with egg-yolk yellow centers. Its leaves are dark green, long, and thin, and turn shades of orange, red and purple in the fall.
FOIL STAMP COORDINATES: Bartram's gardens, Philadelphia, PA, USA
The franklinia tree has only ever been known to grow on the banks of the Altamaha River in southeastern Georgia. In 1765, John Bartram discovered this tree and then in 1773, he collected its seeds to bring back to the Bartram's gardens in Philadelphia where he was successfully able to grow the tree. This tree has been extinct in the wild since 1803, but the cause for its extinction is unknown. This means that all current franklinia trees are derived from the seeds that were collected by Bartram.
