Overview
The Te Papa herbarium (WELT) holds 236 lots (352 sheets) of Robert Brown specimens collected as part of the Flinders expedition to Australia. Of the 236 lots, 69 (108 sheets) have some kind of type status.
Robert Brown (1773-1858) was a Scottish botanist who pioneered the use of microscopes in botany. This led to him observing organelles being ejected from pollen grains – an example of the phenomenon of continuous motion of minute particles in solution, and now known as Brownian motion. Brown published many taxa – many of which are still accepted today.
After a previous meeting, Joseph Banks recommended Brown to the Admiralty and Brown was appointed as the lead naturalist on board The HMS Investigator. This expedition, led by Matthew Flinders became the first European circumnavigation of Australia (1801-1805). On this expedition, Brown collected plant specimens with illustrator Ferdinand Bauer and gardener Peter Good. They collected approximately 3900 species, almost all new to western science. He described 1200 Western Australian species alone, and published the first major flora of Australia, Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae van Diemen in 1810.
Robert Brown was the keeper of the botanical department at the British Museum from 1827 to 1858.
WELT is not certain when, or from where, we acquired these specimens, but investigations are ongoing. WELT imaged these specimens to improve access to them, especially for our Australian colleagues and public. Te Papa thanks botany volunteer, Margo Montes de Oca, for imaging these specimens.