The Franck family succulent portraiture

From Plant Press, Vol. 23, No. 1, January 2020.

By Julia Beros

In 2017, botany contractor Victor Shields was tasked with reorganizing the clutter of the Euphorbia cases, and among the sheets of pressed material he found one nearly empty with a small photograph pasted in the upper corner. And soon he found another. And then another, and another. Often in the collections various sheets void of plant material are stored with herbarium specimens, dubbed “literature” they are usually write-ups and keys to species and synonyms or cut-outs from articles with relevant information. The photographs Shields found, though sparse with information, were part of a more intricate history of succulent research.

At the turn of the 20^th century J.N. Rose (noted motorcycle-riding botanist and curator at the Smithsonian Institution) along with N.L. Britton (co-founder of the New York Botanical Garden) were the major authorities on Cactaceae, collaborating as well in work on Crassulaceae. Abroad in Germany, Alwin Berger was a prominent figure in succulent botanical research, having worked in gardens throughout Europe he developed an interest in succulents, ultimately publishing multiple monographs and aiding in the nomenclature and evolutionary study of cacti and agaves. Rose and Britton even named a genus Bergerocactus in his honor. He was greatly supported by his fellow succulent enthusiasts, namely Harry Franck, a highly active member of the German Cactus Society. At the time Franck, a hobbyist in Frankfurt, had cultivated one of Europe’s largest living collections of succulents.

His massive collections served the botanical community by providing live specimens, rare even in cultivation, for research. Though he died just before Berger’s publication of Die Sukkulente Euphorbien in 1907, his passion and contributions live on through the photographs of his cultivated specimens gathered by his son Harry Franck, making the illustrations possible for this monograph. Haunting portraits, these statuesque creatures emerging from terra cotta with their names etched onto tags dangling at the nape of their pots, serve as historical research documents, and ethereal momentary impressions of the still steady work of a succulent: arms cutting into the sky as roots do below the surface, hoarding water through CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism).

Photographs of cultived Euphorbia cereiformis, Euphorbia cooperi, and Euphorbia grandidens appear on herbarium sheets in specimen folders.

In 2018 while digitizing the Crassulaceae family, many similar photographs were uncovered, attesting to the vast span of Franck’s work. Father and son duo, the Francks, though little known, were two major contributors to botanical research and cultivation. Through these glamour shots, scattered throughout the collections, their work and legacy will continue to inspire curiosity and provide irreplaceable historic material.

Today commodity culture has sparked a fascination and fetishization of succulent plants that has created a massive surplus of these habitat-specific creatures in climates like windowsills and waiting-rooms, simultaneously making them a coveted and disposable item. Their proliferation in offices and Instagram posts in some ways parallels that of orchids, via the Victorian era Orchid Hunters transforming them from delicate exotic epiphytes to grocery store and bodega staples, housewarming gifts, and temporary décor, lasting only until the final blossom drops to the floor. Perhaps this is a method of counter-colonization. A subversive technique for plants lacking the autonomy to move beyond their highly temperamental habitat needs by capitalizing on the human quest to possess the beautiful and the bizarre. It is unclear what remains of Franck’s once great succulent nursery, likely damaged or obliterated by war, its memory will continue to inspire horticulturalists and hobbyists alike to continue in their botanical pursuits.

Photographs of cultived Euphorbia imbricata, Euphorbia mamillosa, and Euphorbia tenuirama appear on herbarium sheets in specimen folders.

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But how do we find the photographs?
Any link suggestions?