Son of John Tradescant the Elder, he was born in Meopham, Kent, and educated at The King's School, Canterbury.

Among the seeds he brought back to introduce to English gardens were great American trees including magnolias, bald cypress and tulip tree, and garden plants such as phlox and asters.

John Tradescant the Younger added his American acquisitions to the family's cabinet of curiosities, known as The Ark.

[2] These included the ceremonial cloak of Chief Powhatan, an important Native American relic.

He published the contents of his father's celebrated collection as Musaeum Tradescantianum—books, coins, weapons, costumes, taxidermy, and other curiosities—dedicating the first edition to the Royal College of Physicians (with whom he was negotiating for the transfer of his botanic garden), and the second edition to the recently restored Charles II.