In the early history of the Department of Botany, there were no faculty members working with benthic marine algae, except for Mrs. Miriam Armstead (see Miriam Ashton). She had taken a course at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, given by William Randolph Taylor and was an instructor in the Department. She donated a small collection of marine algae that she had collected at Woods Hole to the Department Herbarium. This was the nucleus of the Phycological Collection. In the early 1940s Andrew Hutchinson (Head of the Department), John Davidson and R. W. Pillsbury were interested in the benthic marine algae and obtained some field support from commercial sources interested in agarophytes. In the course of their work, a few specimens were added to the Phycological Collection. As an undergraduate (1946-1948) and graduate student (1948) at U.B.C., Robert F. Scagel collected marine algae at a number of sites in British Columbia and northern Washington; these collections were eventually deposited in the Phycological Collection.

When Robert Scagel was appointed to the Department in 1952, after completing a Ph.D. at the University of California, the Phycological Collection occupied less than a full standard herbarium case.

The strength of the U.B.C. Phycological Collection is primarily in the northeast Pacific, where its holdings represent the most comprehensive of any Herbarium. During the course of Robert Scagel’s academic career (1952-1986) and assisted by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows carrying out research on benthic marine algae, Scagel oversaw the expansion of the Phycological Herbarium to its present size of over 67,000 specimens. During this period, with support from U.B.C., the National Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Defence Research Board of Canada, the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, the Provincial Fisheries Department, the B. C. Research Council and the National Science Foundation (U.S.), collecting activities were carried out all along the Pacific Coast from central California to Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands as far west as Attu Island. Collections from these surveys were deposited in the Phycological Collection at U.B.C. The Alaska representation in the Phycological Collection has been significantly augmented since 1986 by donations from Sandra Lindstrom. In addition, smaller collections made UBC Botanists in Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Mauritius, East Africa and Japan and frequent exchanges with other institutions have expanded the geographic breadth of the Collection.

The algae collection is arranged taxonomically by phylum. Within each phylum, the specimens are ordered alphabetically by genus then species. Each species is then arranged in order by geographical regions within each herbarium folder.

The UBC Herbarium Algal database is complete and includes label information for all accessioned specimens in our Algal collection. Most of the data has not yet been edited for typographical errors. Even though specimens have been annotated for nomenclatural and taxonomic changes in the last 20 years, most database entries have not been edited for nomenclatural and taxonomic changes since the data were entered. There are currently over 67,000 specimens databased, with new additions each year.

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Publications

		Paul W. Gabrielson, Sandra C. Lindstrom, and Charles J. O’Kelly. 2012. Keys to the Seaweeds and Seagrasses of Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Phycological Contribution Number 8. PhycoID. iv + 192 pp. Download the Order Form. Adobe Acrobat Reader Required.
		R. F. Scagel, P. W. Gabrielson, D. J. Garbary, L. Golden, M. W. Hawkes, S. C. Lindstrom, J. C. Oliveira and T. B. Widdowson. 1989 [ Reprinted 1993 with minor changes]. A Synopsis of the Benthic Marine Algae of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, Washington and Oregon. Phycological Contribution Number 3. Department of Botany, University of British Columbia. vi + 535 pp. Download the order form Adobe Acrobat Reader Required