Charles Schweinfurth (April 13, 1890 – November 16, 1970) was an American botanist and plant collector who distinguished himself by his studies on orchids.
He was a researcher at the Botanical Museum of Harvard University, and director of the Ames Orchid Herbarium where, in 1958, he was succeeded by Leslie Andrew Garay.
Subsequently, he worked on the orchids of Central America, notably Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama.
In 1922, James Francis Macbride invited him to join the "Flora of Peru Project", and Schweinfurth took on the Orchidaceae for his part.
This eventually led to his magnum opus the Orchids of Peru[5] The following plants have been named after Schweinfurth in his honour: