Francesco Franceschi (horticulturist)

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This article is about the California horticulturist whose Italian surname was Fenzi. For the 15th century printer from the Italian Renaissance, see Francesco Franceschi. For others with the Fenzi surname, see Fenzi (surname).
Francesco Franceschi
Bust of Francesco Franceschi.jpg
Bust of
Francesco Franceschi
in Franceschi Park, Santa Barbara
Born
Emanuele Orazio Fenzi

(1843-03-02)March 2, 1843
Florence, Italy
DiedNovember 7, 1924(1924-11-07) (aged 81)
Tripoli, Libya
NationalityItalian-American
OccupationHorticulturist

Francesco Franceschi (1843–1924) – known in Italy by his title and birth name of Cavalier Emanuele Orazio Fenzi – was an Italian banker and horticulturist who spent part of his later career in the United States, where his efforts contributed to the introduction of new plant species in southern California.[1]

Early life[]

Cavalier. Emanuele Orazio Fenzi was born on March 12, 1843, in Florence, Italy to Orazio Fenzi (1817–1850) and Countess Emilia della Gherardesca (1801–1850), the former being a member of the wealthy Fenzi family involved in banking and railroads.[2][3] He was the grandson of Emanuele Fenzi, and he was raised at Palazzo Fenzi by his grandparents following the early death of his parents.[2] In 1864, Fenzi, earned a Doctor of Political Science and Administration degree from University of Pisa.[2] Although he manifested an early interest in botany and gardening – especially tropical species – he initially acceded to his grandfather's desire that he go into the Banca Fenzi.[1][2] He pursued his horticultural interests at the Villa Sant'Andrea in Percussina where he developed a botanical garden.[1][2] He was a founding member of the Italian Botanical Society (it) in 1888,[4] and he was a member of the Royal Tuscan Society of Horticulture (it), serving first as its secretary and then as its president.[2] Over the course of his life, he developed into an expert on succulents, palms, and bamboo, and he is credited with introducing such species as bamboo and eucalyptus into Italy.[1][2] In 1878, he introduced the first threshing machine to Italy.[2]

In 1870, Emanuele Orazio Fenzi married his first cousin, Cristina (1851–1927), one of six born to the marriage of Cavalier Sebastiano Fenzi (1822–1901) and Emily Verity (maiden; 1827–1869).[5] In 1891, following an economic crisis in Italy that decimated the family's Bank and wealth, and as a part of a major Italian diaspora that began around 1880, Fenzi emigrated with his wife and three of their children to America.[1] For his new life in the United States, he took a new name: Francesco Franceschi.

California years[]

After two years in Los Angeles, Franceschi moved to Santa Barbara. There, he and local landscape architect Charles Frederick Eaton jointly founded the Southern California Acclimatizing Association in 1893 to introduce new species from around the world to California. It was initially headquartered at Eaton's Montecito estate of Riso Rivo, which became a botanical nursery for their experiments in plant propagation. Eaton planted an enormous variety of both native and non-native trees at Riso Rivo, including live oak, camphor, cinnamon, avocado, Abyssinian banana, candlenut, and many species of citrus and palms.[6] Many kinds of seeds were also grown on the estate in their attempt to determine which were suitable for southern California's Mediterranean climate.[6]

The partnership with Eaton ended in 1895 when Franceschi moved the SCAA to Santa Barbara from Riso Rivo, where he ran it as a combination experiment station and commercial nursery. He incorporated the SCAA in 1907 as a partnership with a local nurseryman named Peter Riedel who had immigrated from Holland.[7] During this phase of the SCAA's existence, it propagated trees for use along Santa Barbara's city streets, some of which can still be seen.[7] The partnership ended badly after just two years, in a lawsuit between the partners from which Riedel walked away with both the SCAA and its prime location in downtown Santa Barbara. Today the SCAA is recognized as the first nursery to "scientifically evaluate new plants for California's climatic conditions".[1] The SCAA's 1900 general catalog runs to over 100 pages of trees (especially palms, cycads, and bamboo), shrubs, and flowers. There are special sections on fruit-bearing plants, California natives, trees for street planting, and drought-resistant plants.[8]

In 1903, Franceschi's wife bought 40 acres of land on Mission Ridge Road in Santa Barbara. They named the property Montarioso and built an American Craftsman style redwood house on it. It was one of the earliest houses built in what is now known as Santa Barbara's Riviera. Franceschi turned about 10 acres of the land—which at 800 feet above sea level was in an almost entirely frost-free zone—into a scientifically organized nursery and botanic garden.[1] Franceschi was an early advocate of xeriscaping, and the grounds of Montarioso included many species of cactus, aloe, agave, acacia, and—most spectacularly—a palm tree "amphitheater" embracing about a hundred different species that he had grown from seed.[1] He experimented with the low-growing ornamental frogfruit as an alternative to traditional lawns.[1]

Ultimately, through Franceschi's (and the SCAA's) efforts, some 200 new plant species were introduced to California.[9] Two years before he died, Franceschi was awarded the Frank N. Meyer Memorial Medal by the American Genetic Association in recognition of his contributions to his adopted country.[2] Frank Nicholas Meyer (1875–1918) is the namesake of the award.

Franceschi was the first scientist to describe the Franceschi palm (Brahea elegans), which was named for him. It is currently considered a synonym for Brahea armata, also known as Mexican blue palm,[10][11] though a few experts hold it to be a locally adapted variety of Brahea aculeata due to its similar morphology and coloration.[12]

During the American years, Franceschi was also a contributor to Bailey's Cyclopedia of American Horticulture[2] and published a comprehensive account of local gardens (Santa Barbara Exotic Flora, 1895).

Later years and legacy[]

Franceschi Park in Santa Barbara, California

By 1909, partly as a result of the SCAA lawsuit, Franceschi was in financial difficulties. After the city of Santa Barbara failed to take up his proposal to turn Montarioso into a city-sponsored arboretum, he began selling off parts of the property.[7] Not long afterwards, after two decades in southern California, Franceschi moved back to Italy with his wife and took up his birth surname of Fenzi again. In 1912, the Italian government hired him to go to Libya—then the colony of Italian Tripolitania within Italian North Africa—and work on introducing new plant species suitable for the north African climate.[1] In Libya, he started a nursery and a number of related projects: a collection of date species from around Tripoli, a herbarium of native plants, and a reorganization of the library at the School of Agriculture.[7] His plant introductions in Libya include eucalyptus (which his nursery supplied for planting along Libya's railroad lines), avocado, Natal plum, and bamboo.[7]

Fenzi died in Libya in 1924. After his death, part of his Santa Barbara estate was bought by a wealthy American philanthropist, Alden Freeman, who greatly admired Franceschi's work. Through his efforts, the property was enlarged and the house remodeled in a Mediterranean style. In 1931, Freeman donated them to the city of Santa Barbara. The grounds are now open to the public as Franceschi Park, while funds are being sought to convert Franceschi House (which suffered decades of deferred maintenance and general neglect) to a horticultural center.[13]

Partial list of Franceschi's plant introductions to California[]

See also[]

  • Franceschi Park, Santa Barbara, major portion founded June 1931; small additions 1962, 1964, and 1976
  • Category:University of Pisa alumni (under the name: Emanuele Orazio Fenzi)
  • Margaret Bell Douglas (1880–1963), Canadian botanist and horticulturist known for her work in the Southwestern United States and Mexico

Bibliography[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k Chamberlin, July 2002.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Tomassoli, 1996.
  3. ^ Tucker, January 1943.
  4. ^ Passerini, 1925.
  5. ^ Verity Family Records.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Beresford, May 31, 2007.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Chamberlin, October 2002.
  8. ^ SCAA, 1900.
  9. ^ Butterfield.
  10. ^ World Checklist.
  11. ^ "New Garden Plants ..." 1910.
  12. ^ Brahea Elegans.
  13. ^ Franceschi Park.

References to linked inline notes[]

  • Beresford, Hattie (née Henriette M. Simons; born 1949) (May 31, 2007). "The Way It Was – Franceschi and Eaton Landscape Montecito". Montecito Journal. Archived from the original on September 14, 2015 – via Wayback Machine.
  • "Brahea Elegans". www.palmsnc.org. Oakland: The Palm Society, Northern California Chapter. n.d. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  • Butterfield, Harry Morton (1887–1970) (August 1964). "Dates of Introduction of Trees and Shrubs to California" (typewritten manuscript). University of California Davis, Landscape Horticulture Department. pp. 13, 14, 15, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27. Retrieved February 27, 2021 – via HathiTrust. 
      Note: According to Judith M. Taylor, "Butterfield basically established the field of California horticultural history by himself, writing a long series of articles in the horticultural literature over many years. He did not publish any books. Butterfield spent his entire professional life at the University of California at Berkeley in the agricultural extension department. ("Judith Taylor's Biography". horthistoria.com. Retrieved February 28, 2021.)
    CS1 maint: postscript (link) OCLC 920444163 (all editions)
    1. "Bolusanthus speciosus". p. 60.
    2. "Cephalostachyum pergracile". p. 62.
    3. "" (sv). p. 63.
    4. "Cocos Arechavaletana". p. 64.
    5. "" (es). p. 64.
    6. "Cocos pulposa". p. 64.
    7. "" (es). p. 67.
    8. "Erythea elegans". p. 67.
    9. "" (sv). pp. 68–69.
    10. "Livistona mariae". p. 71.
    11. "Oreodoxa borinquena". p. 75.
    12. "Pritchardia Wrightii". p. 78.
    13. "Stereospermum sinicum". p. 83.
    14. "Xanthosoma nuevoleonense". p. 84.
    15. "Xylosma Salzmanni". p. 85.

General references (not linked to notes)[]

  • Beittel, Will (né Wilbur Gram Beittel; 1913–1999); cover art by Eric George Parfit (1909–2004) (1984). Dr. F. Franceschi: Pioneer Plantsman – A Record of His Distinguished Career in Santa Barbara (monograph; 65 pages). Santa Barbara, California: Santa Barbara County Horticultural Society. OCLC 15640638.
  • Chamberlin, Susan (Spring 2002). "A History of Franceschi Park, Santa Barbara, California" (PDF). Eden (monthly journal). Newhall, California: California Garden and Landscape History Society. 5 (1): 5–13. ISSN 1524-8062. OCLC 724267112. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  • Franceschi, Francesco (December 1908). "Fifteen Years' Experience in Southern California". The Pacific Garden. Pasadena, California: Pacific Garden Publishing Company, Peter DeWitt Barnhart (1849–1940), editor and publisher. 2 (1). p. 9.CS1 maint: postscript (link) Continued in the following issues:
    1. Vol. 2, no. 2. January 1909
    2. Vol. 2, no. 3. February 1909
    3. Vol. 2, no. 4. March 1909
OCLC 9842079 (all editions)
This paper was scheduled to have been presented at the International Conference of Plant Hardiness and Acclimatization, hosted by the Horticulture Society of New York, October 1, 2, and 3, 1907, in rooms at the American Institute and the Museum Building of the New York Botanical Garden. OCLC 964813607 (all editions)
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