James Forbes (May 1773 – 6 July 1861) was a British gardener and botanist.
He was the gardener for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey.
He was the author of Salictum Woburnense (1829), Hortus Woburnensis (1833), Journal of Horticultural Tour through Germany, Belgium and Part of France in... 1835 (1837) and Pinetum Woburnense (1839).
Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785 – 1865) named the species Oncidium forbesii (in the family of Orchidaceae) after him.
Forbes died on 6 July 1681, at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire, aged 88.