Phycologia Australica
William Henry Harvey
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Phycologia AustralicaWilliam Henry Harvey |
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| Undoubtedly William Henry Harvey’s Phycologia Australica
represents one of the most important books on phycology emerging from the
19th century. The work, published in five separate volumes between 1858
and 1863, is the result of Harvey’s extensive collecting along the Australian
shores during a three year sabbatical. By the time Harvey set foot in Western
Australia, he had already established himself as a leading phycologist having
published several large works on algae from the British Isles, northern
America as well as the Southern Ocean (Nereis Australica). The fact that
Harvey travelled the globe on several occasions and collected the seaweeds
which he described himself in his later publications, set him apart from
most of his contemperoraries who relied for the most part on specimens collected
by others. In addition Harvey’s zest for work, made he pressed sometimes
over 700 specimens in a single day, which were distributed to his colleagues
a set of Australian algae. Upon his return to Trinity College in Dublin,
Harvey embarked on a mission: the illustration and description of over 300
species of Australian algae, for which he deserved the title ‘father of
Australian Phycology’. Unfortunately the five volumes of Phycologia Australica
are so sought-after that they are beyond the reach of most present-day phycologists
which under the best of circumstances have to travel only a couple of hundreds
of miles to a nearby herbarium or museum which possesses a copy of the books.
Hence, the initiative to scan and distribute an electronic copy of Harvey’s
Phycologia Australica.
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Compiled by Frederik Leliaert and Olivier De Clerck Phycology Research Group |