A watery wonderland
As a group of plants, macro-algae (or seaweeds) are little known and are often disregarded, but not by Nancy Adams.
Of the 3322 specimens she collected for Te Papa’s herbarium, over two thirds – 2285 – are algae.
In 1994, Adams published Seaweeds of New Zealand – An illustrated guide, the first detailed and colour-illustrated treatment of Aotearoa new Zealand’s seaweed flora since 1855. By using concise descriptions complemented by coloured illustrations based on her watercolours, Adams wanted to make seaweeds more familiar.
She described her drawing process as follows:
“The drawings show the plants as they would be seen floating and spread for examination in a shallow dish or rock pool. The wonderful colours the seaweeds exhibit in situ are often lost when the moving plants are taken from the water, especially the vivid blue or green iridescence. However, the drawings show as nearly as possible the colours of a freshly-gathered plant as seen on an opaque, white background.”
