Menzel, Otto (Oscar) Ernst (f. 1897 - 1906)
Oscar/Otto Menzel was the son of Munich-trained landscape gardener Ernst Wilhelm Menzel (1845-1917) who gained repute in South
Australia for his work on some of the most attractive gardens in the Stirling, Blackwood
and Mitcham areas of the Adelaide Hills.
Ernest Wilhelm's sons, Oscar (f. 1897-1906) and Bruno (fl. 1897-1902), grew up working with their father in the gardens and picking up the expertise to
start their own horticultural floricultural pursuits in the Adelaide Hills.
In 1899 his sons, Bruno
and Oscar Ernst, established the Specialty
Farm (Aldgate Nursery) with seed merchant and nursery proprietor, Fred Caley Smith (1864-1913), before
ending their business interests with Smith:
NOTICE is hereby given that the PARTNERSHIP
heretofore subsisting between us the
undersigned at Aldgate, as Nurserymen, under the
style of "SMITH & MENZEL." was this day DISOLVED
by mutual consent. All Debts owing
from or due to the late firm will be discharged
or received by Fred Caley Smith, who for the
future will carry on the Business on his own
account.
Dated this this day of August. 1906.
OSCAR ERNST MENZEL.
FRED CALEY SMITH.
[The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA)
Mon 27 Aug 1906 Page 2]
Oscar served as secretary of the Mount Lofty Gardeners
Society (fl. 1890-1900), and contributed many plant specimens to Australian,
Berlin, and Natal Herbaria.
When discussing the life of Ellen Benham at the Adelaide University Botany Department Enid Robertson (1986) wrote:
In 1906 the State
Government presented to the University an
herbarium collection which it had purchased from
Messrs Smith and Menzel, later known as the
Menzel Herbarium.
Benham extended her hours
of work at the University to enable her to classify and arrange this collection which consisted of extensive material of both exotic and Australian flora.
When requesting Council for finance for zinc-lined botanical cabinets to house the
herbarium specimens she stated that the Menzel
collection would "form a valuable nucleus for a
general reference herbarium, whose value will
increase year by year as the Australian bush is
destroyed".
Acacia menzelii was named by J.M. Black in in 1917 in honour of Otto Ernst (Oscar) Menzel, noting the Type was: "Collected in flower by the late Mr. O.E.Menzel, on August 8, 1897, at Monarto. The specimens were preserved in his herbarium, which was afterwards purchased by the South Australian Government."
Source: Extracted from:
https://adelaideaz.com/articles/acacia-menzelii-salutes-contribution-of-menzel-family-and-german-input-to-south-australia-horticulture
Robertson, Enid (1986) in 'Ideas and Endeavours—
The Natural Sciences
in South Australia' Editors: C.R. Twidale, M.J. Tyler and M. Davies
Aitken & Looker (eds.) 'The Oxford Companion to Australian Gardens', 2002, Melbourne p. 406, p.556
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA)
Mon 27 Aug 1906
Page 2
Advertising
Portrait Photo: none known.
Collecting localities for 'Menzel, O.E.' from AVH (2026)
Data from 624 specimens
