Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria |
Trained in law, and briefly a soldier, Hügel devoted his life from 1824 to the study of natural history, particularly botany and horticulture. In 1830 he embarked on a 6-year tour of India, Ceylon, Australasia, the Philippines and back to India and Kashmir. He visited the Swan River colony (Western Australia), including King George Sound, from 27 November 1833 until 11 January 1834, collecting extensively. The collections were described by Endlicher et al. in Enumeratio Plantarum Novae Hollandiae (1837) and Stirpium Australasicarum Herbarii Hügeliana Decades Tres (1838). In January and February 1834 he visited Tasmania, and then between April and October visited New South Wales twice, New Zealand and Norfolk Island. None of these eastern visits seem to have yielded collections. An extensive 2000-page diary of his Australian travels (with English translation by Ducker & Clark) is held by the Mitchell Library. A translation of most of this was published by Clark (1994). Hügel's collections are held by W, with duplicates in BR, CGE, CN, HBG, K, LE, M and MEL.
Extracted from: A.E.Orchard (1999) A History of Systematic Botany in Australia, in Flora of Australia Vol.1, 2nd ed., ABRS. [consult for source references]