DR. FENZrS CONTRIBUTIONS 

 TO AMERICAN HORTI- 

 CULTURE 



THE WORK OF A PIONEER PLANTSMAN IN CALIFORNIA 



Wilson Popenoe 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 



THOSE who have followed the 

 course of plant introduction in the 

 United States during the last 

 quarter of a century have had occasion 

 to become familiar with the work of 

 Dr. E. O. Fenzi, who devoted many 

 years of unselfish effort to securing 

 new economic and ornamental species 

 from all parts of the world and estab- 

 lishing them in California. His intro- 

 ductions are more numerous than those 

 of any other one man, and many of 

 them are now widely grown in the 

 land of their adoption. It seems emi- 

 nently fitting, therefore, that Doctor 

 Fenzi should have been awarded the 

 third Frank N. Meyer Medal by the 

 American Genetic Association. Those 

 of us who know him feel that this recog- 

 nition is timely, for his work in our 

 country is ended, and he has, at an 

 advanced age, returned to his native 

 land, Italy, there to undertake a similar 

 enterprise in the new colony of Libya. 

 It is characteristic of the man and 

 his inexhaustible enthusiasm that 

 he should forsake the comforts of 

 civilization at an age of seventy-five 

 years and advance to the very frontier, 

 facing an enterprise which could well 

 stagger a man of thirty. 



It is with peculiar pleasure that I 

 recall my first visit to Doctor Fenzi's 

 home at Santa Barbara. As a mere 

 lad, and with nothing to recommend 

 me save an enthusiastic interest in 

 rare plants, I ascended the slopes of 

 Mission Ridge, feeling considerably in 

 awe of the man I was about to meet. 



for we of California looked to Doctor 

 Franceschi (as he was known to us in 

 that state) as our foremost authority on 

 rare plants. Montarioso, as he called 

 his last home in Santa Barbara, is 

 perched high above the city on a 

 ridge which was devoid of other than 

 native vegetation, save for a few 

 recently planted trees and shrubs. 

 The house, distinctly Italian in design, 

 was visible from all parts of the city, 

 and people marveled at Doctor Fenzi's 

 courage in undertaking to live in so 

 barren a spot. Very little water was 

 available on the ridge at that time, 

 but today the section has been opened 

 for settlement and forms one of the 

 most attractive suburbs of Santa 

 Barbara. 



Well do I recall the welcome I 

 received from Doctor Fenzi and his 

 family. It was enough that I should 

 be interested in rare plants; nothing 

 further was necessary to assure me a 

 cordial reception. At the rear of the 

 living room the Doctor had a small 

 study in which were piled European 

 horticultural and botanical journals 

 and many books in French and Italian. 

 The exotic atmosphere of the place 

 made a lasting impression upon me — 

 an impression heightened by the Italian 

 dinner which was served, and by the 

 Doctor himself. His costume was 

 strikingly foreign; a small tam-o'- 

 shanter tilted on one side of his head, a 

 peculiar European jacket of a kind that 

 I had never seen before, and baggy 

 trousers of thin material. 



* Dr. E. O. Fenzi, of Florence, Italy was awarded the third Meyer Memorial Medal by the 

 Council of the American Genetic Association. The American Minister at Rome presented the 

 medal to Dr. Fenzi in August, 1922. 



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