- Specimen details
| Catalogue Number: 31167 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Image | Plant Name | NONE Gelidium sp. | Entry Book Number | ||
| Artefact Name | Vernacular Name | ||||
| Iso Country | Not defined | TDWG Region | Not defined | ||
| Parts Held | Geography Description | ||||
| Uses | Use: FOOD User: Man | TDWG use | FOOD | ||
| Storage | Bottles, boxes etc | Related Items | |||
| Donor | Pharm Soc GB | Donor No | 31 A 6 | ||
| Donor Date | Donor Notes | ||||
| Collector | Collector No | ||||
| Collection Notes | Collection Date | ||||
| Exhibition | Expedition | ||||
| Number Components | Publication | ||||
| Notes: | Label source: Copy of letter: Ref. No. L.804/31 Dated 10th December 1947. From H T Islip, Vice Principal, Plant and Animal Products Dept. Imperial Institute, S. Kensington. Dear Fairbairn, I am very sorry that I overlooked your request for a sample of th, e Jamaican seaweed concerning which we consulted you last October. Please forgive me. I hasten to repair this omission by sending, under separate cover a half pound of this weed. This seaweed is sold locally in Jamaica as 'Irish Moss'. It is not, however,, true Irish moss and we had some difficulty in as certaining its botanical identity. According to Amy Barry ('Glimpses of Jamaican Natural History', 2,64) it is Gelidium corneum, but Professor Lily M Newton, to whom I sent a sample, says it is definitely, not this and considered it more likely to be Gracilaria robusta, though she could not be positive on this point as fertile material was absent from the sample. Confirmation that the genus is Gracilaria has since been obtained from W.R. Taylor of Ann arbor, , Michigan, and some of it is G.cornea. The finer material could also be G cornea from a different habitat, but it might also be G folufera var. angustissima. As suggested by you, some of the weed has been sent to Messrs Paines and Byrnes Ltd. to ascertai, n whether a satisfactory agar agar can be propared from it. With renewed apologies for my seeming neglect, signed H T Islip. | ||||