The nooks and crannies of Aotearoa New Zealand’s extensive coastline are home to hugely diverse and luxuriant seaweed flora. Over the last 100 years a significant number of women have contributed to the serious study of New Zealand’s macro-algae.
This has created a botanical whakapapa from the ‘two Lucies’ – Lucy Moore and Lucy Cranwell – to Nancy Adams and Eileen Willa, and to Wendy Nelson and her students. All of these women showed a passion for the botanical world from an early age. They learned from and supported one another in their careers as phycologists (scientists who study seaweed/algae) and have had a huge impact on seaweed science in Aotearoa.
Stenogramma interruptum (C.Agardh) Mont. ex Harv., Collected by Dr Lucy Moore, Worser Bay. Identified by Nancy Adams. Te Papa (A003078)
Collecting seaweed
The women showcased here have made some of the most important contributions to seaweed science in New Zealand. They have been some of the biggest collectors (and identifiers) of specimens and their collections continue to be used for research today.
Meet some of the seaweed sisters
Lucy Moore, 1959 (Photograph taken for the Evening Post newspaper of Wellington by an unidentified staff photographer. ), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Wendy Nelson, 2014. Photograph by Norm Heke. Te Papa (94940)
Jennifer Dalen. Photo by Norm Heke Te Papa (91560)
Nancy Adams – National Museum staff portrait, August 1976. Photograph by Trevor Ulyatt. Te Papa (MA_E.000345/031)
Roberta D’Archino. Photo by Nicole Miller
The information associated with scientific specimens and drawings tells us a lot – who collected them, who studied and identified them, and who they were named for. For example, Te Papa holds 5,704 specimens of algae collected by Wendy Nelson, 2,286 by Nancy Adams, 1018 by Roberta D’Archino and 478 by Eileen Willa. Together, Nancy Adams and Wendy Nelson have identified nearly 15,000 algae specimens, about half of our algae collection!
One of the most significant ways a scientist’s contributions to research is recognised is through the naming of species after them. Many women in Aotearoa New Zealand have been honoured in this way, including some of the seaweed sisters Lucy Cranwell, Lucy Moore, Nancy Adams, and Eileen Willa:
Codium cranwellia and Gigartina cranwelliae – species of algae named after Lucy Cranwell
Aristoptilon mooreanum and Ptilonia mooreana species of algae named after Lucy Moore
Lessonia adamsiae – species of algae named after Nancy Adams
Ptilonia willana – species of algae named after Eileen Willa, who collected the type species at Port Pegasus in 1945
Apophlaea darchinoae – species of algae named after Roberta D’Archino
Skeletonella nelsoniae – species of algae named after Wendy Nelson.
Having a genus named in your honour is an even greater tribute – as there far fewer genera than species, and only a handful of new plant genera are described each year. The following genera of algae have been named after New Zealand phycologists Wendy Nelson, Judith Sutherland and Nancy Adams:
Wendya – genus of algae named after Wendy Nelson
Judithia – genus of algae named after Judith Sutherland
Nancythalia and Adamsiella – genera of algae named after Nancy Adams.
The numbers
We hold about 30,000 specimens of algae (seaweed) from New Zealand. Here are the numbers of seaweed specimens collected and identified by some of our women phycologists in the Te Papa herbarium (as of February 2024):
no. specimens
no. identifications
algae specimens
% specimens that are algae
% Te Papa algae collection
Wendy Nelson
6267
9142
5707
91%
19%
Nancy Adams
3321
6874
2286
69%
8%
Roberta d'Archino
1024
1052
1018
99%
3%
Lucy Moore
828
607
45
5%
0%
Eileen Willa
809
50
478
59%
2%
Jenn Dalen
189
151
188
99%
1%
Lucy Cranwell
23
3
13
57%
0%
Totals
12,461
17,879
9,735
33%
Explore some of the algae species collected by and named after these women
Watercolour illustration of Gigartina seaweed specimens, species pictured include Gigartina decipiens, G. dilatata, G. livida and G. marginifera (previously G. cranwelliae, named after Lucy Cranwell), by Nancy Adams (1926–2007), New Zealand. Watercolour on paper. Purchased 2007. Te Papa (CA000892/001/0098)
Watercolour illustration of the 'Ptilonia' seaweed specimens;Species pictured include P. willana (named after Eileen Willa) and P. mooreana (named after Lucy Moore), by Nancy Adams (1926–2007), New Zealand; Watercolour on paper. Purchased 2007. Te Papa (CA000892/001/0016)
Red seaweed(Gloioderma sparlingiae),algae specimens identified by Wendy Nelson & Jenn Dalen, 2016; Collected by Nancy Adams, 17 March 1970, Island Bay, Wellington. Te Papa (A003006)
Red seaweed(Judithia delicatissima named after Judith Sutherland), alga specimen identified by Roberta D’Archino, 2015; Collected by Roberta D’Archino and Wendy Nelson, 20 October 2010, Marfell’s Beach. Gift of NZ scientific agencies and private individuals, 2014–2015. Te Papa (A033081)
Red seaweed (Gymnogongrus furcatus),alga specimen identified by Nancy Adams, July 1970; Collected Lucy Cranwell, 2 Feb 1930, Anawhata. Te Papa (A003732)
Red seaweed (Sarcothalia marginifera),Alga specimen identified by Wendy Nelson, 2010; Collected Lucy Cranwell, 7 Feb 1930, Anawhata, Fishermans Rock. Te Papa (A018923)
In the second blog in this series Lucia Adams from Botany and Annie Barnard from Art visit more sites and interview people important in the professional life of Nancy Adams.
Nancy Adams (1926–2007) was one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most notable botanists and a talented artist. One of Te Papa’s most prolific botany collectors of all time, she also painted and drew an incredible number of botanical illustrations. She used her artwork to produce important books about Aotearoa New Zealand’s flora, including seaweeds, flowers, trees, and alpine plants.
New Zealand Seaweeds is the first photographic identification guide to New Zealand’s unique marine algae, by the country’s pre-eminent seaweed expert Wendy Nelson.