The Irish botanist William Henry Harvey (1811--1866), stopped in Ceylon on the way to Swan Colony (Western Australia), arriving 5 September and leaving 25 December 1853. During this period he collected sufficient specimens to be distributed as an exsiccata (Harvey, 1857a). While in Australia, he published a paper describing three spectacular reticulate Delesseriaceae from Ceylon: Claudea multifida, Martensia fragilis, and Vanvoorstia spectabilis, the latter representing a new genus named for John Van Voorst, the London publisher of some of his books (including Harvey, 1841; 1849). Most of his Ceylon collections, however, were treated by Kützing and J. Agardh, as Harvey was busy pursuing other projects, namely completing his phycological tour of Australia, which culminated in his Australian Algal Exsiccatae (see Silva et al 1996, Indian Ocean Catalogue).
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