‘A very strange quality’
The image above is one of Ellen Hutchins’ specimens of Fucus viridis, now named Desmarestia viridis and commonly known as Desmarest’s Green Weed or Stringy Acid Kelp.
Finding it
On 15th February 1807, Ellen wrote to James Mackay of Trinity College Dublin ‘Fucus viridis I believe grows some where in this bay. I have got one small broken bit of a plant which I think agrees with Mr Turner’s description.’
Within two months, she had clearly found where it was growing – Bocarna Point, which is in Glengarriff Harbour. Ellen dated this specimen 23rd April 1807. See how carefully Ellen has spread out the tiny pieces of the seaweed to make such a beautiful specimen. This is typical of the care that Ellen put into making her specimens.
’A very strange quality’
A year later, on 1st February 1808, in a letter to Dawson Turner, Ellen wrote:
‘F ligularus is when growing of a very dark brown olive colour & very glossy. Both it & Fucus viridis have what appeared to me a very strange quality, that of causing other sea plants to decay. I lost a large box full of very fine specimens by them. Whenever they touched other plants they were in 3 or 4 hours quite destroyed particularly Fucus ovalis, kaliformis and clavellosus. A beautiful green Conferva that preserves well in drying was changed to a dirty white. They are themselves unhurt.’
See the specimens for yourself
If you are in Bantry, you can see this specimen of Fucus viridis and two other of Ellen’s seaweed specimens, on loan from Trinity College, in the Ellen Hutchins Archives Cabinet in the reference section of Bantry Library from 16th to 23rd August 2025, during the Ellen Hutchins Festival. See full listings of all events and activities, including a session with more of Ellen’s archives and two of her relatives, and an Ellen Hutchins exhibition HERE.
After that, the Archives Cabinet, with the specimens in it, returns to the UCC Sustainability Institute on Lee Road in Cork. Appointments can be made to see it and the rest of the Ellen Hutchins Reading Room there on weekdays during term time. See HERE for more information. Use the contact email below to arrange a visit.
Own a copy
A limited edition of high quality photographs of the specimen, and a second one, see below, Fucus sanguineus, are available to buy from the Online Shop on this website and in person at Festival events (where they are also available in frames).
Make your own seaweed specimens
There is a workshop that includes making seaweed specimens as part of the Ellen Hutchins Festival, on Friday 22nd August, in the Work Shop in William Street in Bantry. Frances Gallagher will provide a wonderful range of seaweeds and lead you through the process and you will take home a number of specimens to dry and keep. See more HERE.
Specimen of Fucus sanguineus (Delesseria sanguinea); collected by Ellen Hutchins in Bantry Bay over 200 years ago
Posted 7th August 2025