Charles Wright (botanist)

Charles Wright
Born	29 October 1811 Wethersfield, Connecticut
Died	11 August 1885 (although one reference says 1886) Wethersfield
Nationality	American
Fields	Botany
Known for	Taxonomy Botany

Charles Wright (October 29, 1811 – August 11, 1885) was an American botanist.

Wright was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, the son of James Wright and Mary née Goodrich. He studied classics and mathematics at Yale, and in October 1835 moved to Natchez, Mississippi to tutor a plantation owner's family. His employer's business failed two years later, and he moved to Texas, working as a land surveyor and teacher. He surveyed ground for the Pacific Railroad Company. During this time, he also collected plants for Asa Gray. Gray thought of Wright as one of his most trusted collectors.

In 1849, he joined an army expedition (with Gray's help) through Texas, botanising from Galveston to San Antonio and then on to El Paso. But he had to walk most of the 673 miles, (which took over 104 days effort). He collected seeds of Penstemon baccharifolius (Hook), between Texas and El Paso, which were later given to William Hooker. Also,Castilleja lanata (found near the Rio Grande) and Castilleja integra (found in the Organ Mountains, near El Paso). In the spring of 1851, he joined the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey (also with Gray's help).

His collections from these two trips, formed the basis of Gray's Plantae Wrightianae (1852–53). He found around 50 new plants in the area.

Between 1853 and 1856, he took part in the Rodgers-Ringgold North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition, collecting plants in Madeira, Cape Verde, Cape Town, Sydney, Hong Kong, the Bonin Islands, Japan (at Hakodate, Tanegashima, the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands including Okinawa) and the western side of the Bering Strait. He collected over 500 specimens while the ships were delayed at Simon's Bay, near Cape Town.

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