Antonio Pineda

His scientific exploration and collecting covered a significant portion of the Pacific basin including the coast of South America, Mexico, and the Philippines.

Before his untimely death in the Philippines, Pineda had amassed a huge volume of documents including scientific reports, diaries, and logbooks as well as a significant collection of natural history specimens.

His Spanish father, José de Pineda, was a knight in the Order of Santiago and served as a judge in the Royal Audiencia of Guatemala.

He traveled widely to undertake field studies in natural history and he associated with prominent Spanish scientists such as botanist Casimiro Gomez Ortega.

At each port Pineda and his team spent several days or weeks collecting natural history specimens in the surrounding region.

In addition to collecting, Malaspina recalled an incident when Née and Pineda tested a local species of Solanum on themselves resulting in severe vomiting and overall pain and swelling.

When the naturalists decided to separately explore different parts of the region, Pineda first traveled with another Spanish botanist, Juan de Cuellar, who was working in the Philippines at the time.

The inscription on the monument read:[1] "To Antonio Pineda, army officer, a man distinguished for patriotism and warlike valour and an untiring student of nature.

In ardous journey of three years he travelled to the ends of the world, exploring the bowels of the earth, the depths of the sea and the topmost peaks of the Andes.