Francesco Baglietto
Francesco Baglietto was an Italian physician and botanist, known for his studies on cryptogams, particularly on lichens.
Biography
Francesco Baglietto was an Italian botanist and lichenologist born in Voltri, Italy. Under the tutelage of Giuseppe De Notaris, he developed expertise in lichenology, producing numerous influential publications on the subject.Baglietto, along with de Notaris and Vincenzo de Cesati, established the . The society published the journal Commentario della Società crittogamologica italiana and aimed to create a comprehensive Italian cryptogamic herbarium encompassing mosses, lichens, ferns, and mushrooms.
In collaboration with de Cesati and de Notaris, Baglietto published two series of the exsiccata work Erbario crittogamico Italiano. This collection comprised 3000 numbered specimens distributed in an unknown number of sets. The first series was organized into "volumes" across 30 issues, while the second series was divided into two parts, with one part containing 10 issues.
In 1871, Baglietto published Prospetto lichenologico della Toscana, a comprehensive work that combined previous lichenological research with material from private collections, documenting 411 lichen species from Tuscany and its neighboring islands. His personal lichen herbarium was later purchased by Giovanni [Battista de Toni] for £2000 and is now housed at the Botanical Institute of Modena. Additional portions of his collection are preserved at the Natural History Museum in Genoa. His cryptogam collection is regarded as one of Europe's most significant of its kind.
Baglietto died in Genoa on 24 February 1916. His contributions to lichenology are commemorated in three lichen genera: Bagliettoa, Parabagliettoa, and Protobagliettoa.