Botanical expeditions

In some cases the plants might be collected by the person in the field, but described and named by a government sponsored scientist at a botanical garden or university.

In some cases such an expedition could be specifically designed for exploring the flora, or be part of studying the overall natural history or geography of the region.

[5] Botanical expeditions have been driven by a number of motives, such as scientific discovery, economic incentives in terms of resources or for the horticultural trade, such as the Veitch enterprise in the late 19th century.

Transportation of live specimens was initially fraught with hazard, as described by John Lindley of the London Horticultural Society in 1824, with one estimate of survival in 1819, being one in a thousand.

[8]The systematic collection of plants dates from the Renaissance although accounts of organised collection date back as far as the Pharaohs of 2000 BCE who illustrated plants and trees they found on their military campaigns abroad, while Queen Hatsheput (c. 1507–1458 BCE) dispatched an expedition to bring back frankincense from Punt (probably modern day Somalia).

[3] Later, Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) would bring back plants from his expeditions, increasing the level of botanical knowledge of his time, and establishing the Silk Roads between the Far East and Europe.

also the wealth that created the opportunities for European nations to mount major expeditions came partly from slavery, while a number of early plant collectors were missionaries, such as Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit priest who arrived in China in 1582.