(1501–1566)
Leonhart Fuchs, the eminent namesake of the genus, was born in 1501 in
Wemding in the
Duchy of Bavaria. A physician and professor, he occupied the chair of Medicine at the
University of Tübingen from his appointment at the age of 34 until his death in 1566. Besides his medical knowledge, according to his record of activities which was extensive for the time, he studied plants. This was usual for the period. Most remedies and medicines were
herbal and the two subjects were often inseparable. In the course of his career Fuchs wrote the seminal
De Historia Stirpium Commentarii Insignes, which was richly illustrated and published in 1542. Along with Otto Brunfels (1489–1534) and Hieronymus Bock (1498–1554), also called Hieronymus Tragus, he is today considered one of the three fathers of botany. It was in honour of Fuchs' and his work that the fuchsia received its name shortly before 1703 by
Charles Plumier. Plumier compiled his
Nova Plantarum Americanum, which was published in Paris in 1703, based on the results of his third plant-finding trip to the Caribbean in search of new
genera. In it he described
Fuchsia triphylla flore coccinea.... Plumier's novel species was accepted by Linnaeus in 1753 but the long descriptive name was shortened in accordance with his binomial system. The first fuchsia species were introduced into English gardens and glasshouses at the end of the 18th century.
Fuchsia coccinea Aiton arrived at Kew Gardens in 1788 to be formally described in 1789. It was apparently shortly followed by
Fuchsia magellanica Lam. There is much early confusion between these two similar-looking species in the Quelusia Section and they seem to have hybridized readily as well.
Fuchsia magellanica, however, proved very hardy outdoors and its cultivars soon naturalized in favorable areas of the British Isles. Other species were quickly introduced to greenhouses. Of special interest is the introduction of
Fuchsia fulgens Moç. & Sessé ex DC in the 1830s as it resulted in an outpouring of new cultivars when crossed with the existing species.
Philip Munz, in his
A Revision of the Genus Fuchsia (1943), repeats the story that the fuchsia was first introduced into England by a sailor who grew it in a window where it was observed by a nurseryman from
Hammersmith, a Mr. Lee, who succeeded in buying it and propagating it for the trade. This was supposedly either one of the short-tubed species such as
Fuchsia magellanica or
Fuchsia coccinea. The story given by Munz first appears in the 1850s and is embellished in various early publications. Captain Firth, a sailor, brought the plant back to England from one of his trips to his home in Hammersmith where he gave it to his wife. Later
James Lee of St. Johns Wood, nurseryman and an astute businessman, heard of the plant and purchased it for £80. He then
propagated as many as possible and sold them to the trade for prices ranging from £10 to £20 each. In the
Floricultural Cabinet, 1855, there is a report which varies slightly from the above. There it is stated that
F. coccinea was given to
Kew Garden in 1788 by Captain Firth and that Lee acquired it from Kew. Other than a citation at Kew itself that
Fuchsia coccinea was indeed given to it by a Captain Firth, there is no firm evidence to support any of these introduction stories. Throughout the nineteenth century, plant-collecting fever spread throughout Europe and the United States. Many species of numerous genera were introduced, some as living plants, others as seed. The following fuchsias were recorded in England at Kew:
F. lycioides, 1796;
F. arborescens, 1824;
F. microphylla, 1827;
F. fulgens, 1830;
F. corymbiflora, 1840; and
F. apetala,
F. decussata,
F. dependens and
F. serratifolia in 1843 and 1844, the last four species attributable to
Messrs. Veitch of Exeter. With the increasing numbers of differing species in England plant breeders began to immediately develop
hybrids to develop more desirable garden plants. The first recorded experiments date to 1825 as
F. arborescens Χ
F. macrostemma and
F. arborescens X
F. coccinea where the quality of the resultant plants was unrecorded. Between 1835 and 1850 there was a tremendous influx to England of both hybrids and varieties, the majority of which have been lost. In 1848
Felix Porcher published the second edition of his book
Le Fuchsia son Histoire et sa Culture. This described 520 cultivars. In 1871 in later editions of M. Porchers book reference is made to James Lye who was to become famous as a breeder of fuchsias in England. In 1883 the first book of English fuchsias was published. Between 1900 and 1914 many of the famous cultivated varieties were produced which were grown extensively for
Covent Garden market by many growers just outside London. During the period between the world wars, fuchsia-growing slowed as efforts were made toward crop production until after 1949, when plant and hybrid production resumed on a large scale. == References ==