Larry Leach (botanist)

Leslie Charles "Larry" Leach[1] (18 November 1909 Southend – 18 July 1996 Pietersburg) was a Rhodesian taxonomic botanist.

Leach arrived in Rhodesia in 1938 and carried on business in Salisbury as an electrical engineer.

He gave up the business world in 1956 and devoted himself to a self-financed taxonomic study of the three groups with a special interest in the "Flora Zambesiaca" region.

He coerced the Aloe, Cactus and Succulent Society of Rhodesia into producing a taxonomic series supplementary to Excelsa.

Consequently, four volumes, including monographs of the Stapelieae, Orbea, Stapelia, Huernia and Tridentea, were authored by Leach and published between 1978 and 1988.