Algae

The Herbarium holds over 1000 specimens collected by eminent Irish phycologist William Henry Harvey (1811– 1866). Most were given to Mueller by Harvey during his Australian travels, but about 300 specimens are from a set of his Algae Australicae Exsiccatae. This specimen of Claudea elegans – a favourite of Herbarium staff with its exquisite feathery fronds – was among them.

Although Australia’s algae have been studied by phycologistsfor centuries, there are still surprises in store. This alga from the Derwent estuary near Hobart was only described in 2013. Named Entwisleia bella after notable phycologist and RBGV CEO, Tim Entwisle, it represents a truly novel find. It belongs in its very own Order, Entwisleiales, which represents a whole new branch on the tree of red algal life – the equivalent of discovering the first spider or first beetle!

Doris Sinkora (1927–2017) was a long-serving curator, phycologist and historian of Australian botany. As well as collecting over 2500 algae specimens herself, Doris’s skills in interpreting old labels and letters greatly improved the scientific interpretation of the Herbarium’s algae collection. Doris is commemorated in the genus Sinkoraena named for her in 1997.

Doris Sinkora was an outstanding curator. When she discovered something about a specimen, she made sure it was carefully documented so that future researchers could benefit from her work. This specimen of the brown alga Carpomitra filiformis is one of thousands of specimens adorned with her detailed annotations and translations.

Collecting plants and algae was a fashionable pastime in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly for the middle classes. This album of pressed seaweeds provides a glimpse into the botanical world of Victoria’s Port Phillip Bay in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. It was likely created by Glasgow-born amateur plant collector Charles Morrison as a gift for his niece and granddaughters.

Algae specimens are preserved in different ways. Seaweeds are usually floated on to herbarium sheets to display their structures, while microalgae are usually stored in packets or mounted on microscope slides.

Due to their intricate and fragile structures, many coralline algae specimens are stored in ethanol, like this one found growing on a mollusc shell at Kangaroo Island, South Australia.

The Herbarium holds 1350 specimens collected by John Bracebridge Wilson (1828–1895) around Port Phillip Bay. Wilson, who was headmaster of Geelong Grammar School from 1863 to 1895, eagerly collected seaweeds in the school holidays. Many, like this green alga Caulerpa cliftonii, were collected from signal stations around the Bay.

With large parts of our global algae collection remaining untouched for decades, curation staff are sometimes in for a surprise. This specimen – the type of the red alga Amphiroa exilis – was collected

by Charles Darwin (1809–1882) on the voyage of the Beagle (1831–1836) in Rio de Janeiro.

It’s one of only three specimens collected by Darwin that we know of in the Herbarium.