Richard Pearce (botanist)

Richard Pearce (c.1835 – 17 July 1868) was a Victorian plant collector, who introduced the tuberous begonia to England, which led to the development of the hybrid begonias grown today.

Pearce was born at Stoke, Devonport in Devon. His first employment was with Pontey's nursery in Plymouth, where he stayed until about 1858, when he went to work at the nursery of James Veitch at Mount Radford, near Exeter.

In February 1859, Pearce was sent by Veitch to South America for three years as a "collector of plants, seeds, land-shells and other objects of Natural History". Pearce travelled initially to Valparaíso, with instructions to collect in Chile and Patagonia. In particular, he was directed to collect seeds of Libocedrus tetragona, at that time supposed to be the tree which produced the famous Alerce timber. His agreement also required him to locate and collect the Chilean Bellflower, Lapageria rosea and its white variety L. alba, the Chile Pine (then known as Araucaria imbricata) and other hardy trees and shrubs as well as to collect orchids and stove (hothouse) and greenhouse flowering plants.

Pearce successfully carried out his instructions, and as well as the plants he was contracted to collect, he also obtained and introduced Prumnopitys elegans, Podocarpus nubigenus, Eucryphia glutinosa, several Bomareas, Cavendishia bracteata, Ourisia coccinea, O. pearcei and quantities of ferns, the Victorian fern craze then being at its height. His researches on this trip showed that the tree that produced Alerce timber was the Patagonian Cypress, Fitzroya cupressoides and not Libocedrus tetragona as had been previously thought.

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