Ein gebundenes Meeresalgenherbar von 1851 aus Basler Privatbesitz

Abstract

From 1849–1884 Eliza M. French (1809–1889), an amateur phycologist from New London, Connecticut, produced and sold large numbers of bound herbaria comprising pressed, dried seaweeds which she collected at the Atlantic coast. In the second half of the 19th century one of these herbaria was probably bought by Emilie Iselin-Roulet, the wife of Isaak Iselin, an influential merchant and banker in New York, first generation immigrant from Basel, Switzerland. It comprises a neatly decorated title page, 2 brown, 14 red and 2 green algal species, an ornamental page composed of filamentous red and green algae and a poem by Eliza M. French, written in her neat handwriting. The seaweeds had been collected at 7 locations between New London harbor and East River, New York. This herbarium was handed down in the family over 4 generations, then presented to the phycologist Wilhem Vischer, professor at the Botanical Institute of the University of Basel. This seaweed herbarium is now treasured in the manuscript collection of the main library of the University of Basel.