Costa Rican botanist, Alberto Brenes was head of botany at the National Museum of Costa Rica and a prolific collector, especially interested in orchids. Born in San Ramón, Alajuela, he had to work from a young age in a pharmacy to help support his family and it was here that he was first introduced to the study of botany. Brenes later excelled at his studies in the Horacio Mann College and progressed to the Liceo of Costa Rica where he devoted himself to the natural sciences, especially botany.
In 1890 he was awarded a scholarship to study in Europe and travelled to Paris where he learnt French before moving to Switzerland, spending a year in the University of Lausanne followed by six years at the University of Geneva. Here he met his first love, a Belgian woman, but refused to marry her because he could not support her without a career or a wealthy family. In 1898 he graduated as a natural scientist and had to return to Costa Rica where for two years he became a botany lecturer in the School of Pharmacy. Between 1903 and 1910 Brenes worked as a professor of French, Mineralogy, Agriculture, Zoology and Botany at the College of San Luis Gonzaga, and from here he began amassing his large collection of plant specimens from the surrounding mountains. Tragically an earthquake in 1910 destroyed all of Brenes' possessions and killed the friend who had been looking after all of his savings, money he hoped to use to reunite himself with his European lady.
After some time in absolute poverty Brenes managed to find work as an engineer's assistant, allowing him to travel and therefore continue collecting. In 1911 was able to resume his teaching, working in both the School of Heredia and the Liceo of Costa Rica. During this period of his life Brenes conducted much research into the life history and morphology of orchids which he grew in Heredia, and he also maintained some association with the English naturalist and orchid expert Charles Lankester.
In 1920 Brenes was named head of botany at the National Museum of Costa Rica and until his retirement in 1939 he collected extensively as well as making use of his talent as an illustrator. During this time he discovered the quinine tree Cinchona pubescens, which had been in the museum for many years but was only named when Brenes sent the specimen to Paul Standley of the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois. In 1936 Standley praised Brenes as an outstanding botanist in Costa Rica, advancing the work begun by Henry Pittier. Having retired Brenes returned to San Ramón, continued collecting and in 1946 he married Clemencia Quirós, just one year before his death.
Brenes did not publish extensively, but collected some 20,200 plant specimens (as well as a variety of animal collections), which many other botanists used in their works. The Orchidaceae Brenesianea was created by R. Schlechters, publicising Brenes' orchid research. Brenes is remembered in the specific epithets of a large number of plants, 45 of which still remain to this day, and also in the names of the municipal park and biological reserve of San Ramón and the natural history publication of the National Museum of Costa Rica, Brenesia.
Sources:
Sánchez Porras, R., 2002, "Pionero de la biología en Costa Rica Manuel Alberto Brenes Brenes (1870-1948).". Brenesia 57-58: 7-18
Ortiz Ortiz, F., 2002, "Perfil de Don Alberto Brenes Mora" Brenesia 57-58: 19-24.
