DETAILS
- Discipline
NH: BOTANY: ALGAE EXOTIC
- Scientific Name
Hennedya crispa Harv.
- Common Name
Australian marine red seaweed
- Status
STATUS: Syntype
- Date Collected
May 1854
- Place Collected
Australia, West Australia, Fremantle (place collected)
- Form
herbarium sheet
- Collection
Strathclyde University (Herb GGO): Harvey's Australian Algae
- Credit Line/Donor
Gifted by Strathclyde University in 1991
- Description
-
The object is a sample of a marine ‘red algae’ (Acrotylaceae) collected in Fremantle (western Australia) in 1854. The name is still valid and the species is widespread along the coast of SW Australia, with an outlier near Broome in the northwest. It provides a link between two famous botanists contained in its name. It was named by WH Harvey (1811 – 1866) an internationally famous Irish algologist who described many species and was the author of important books including ‘Phycologia Australica’; the species is illustrated in the latter (Plate LXXV).
The genus citation noted that “The genus was named in honour of Roger Hennedy, of Glasgow, an able microscopist and successful explorer of the Algae of Scotland”. Hennedy was the Professor of Botany at the then Andersonian Technical College and is best known for his Clydesdale Flora (1865 to 1891).
Harvey spent time in Cape Town and visited Australia in 1854, before taking a position in Dublin. He visited Fremantle in 1854 although a literature record (Trans. Royal Irish Academy, 1855) noted George Clifton as the collector of a specimen from Fremantle. In total he collected some 10,000 specimens; 300 specimens from Australia are held in Glasgow. - ID Number
B.2008.47.3.1
- Location
In storage
- Terms