Russian naval surgeon (of German extraction). Heinrich Weyrich studied medicine at Dorpat (1846-1851) before entering the Russian navy and accompanying Admiral Putiatin's expedition to eastern Asia in 1852. At every stopping point Weyrich disembarked to collect plants, which he deposited at the Botanical Garden of St. Petersburg. His ship, the Vostok, travelled to Nagasaki in Japan and from there to the Gulf of Tartary in late 1853. On this leg of the journey Weyrich was able to visit two islands in the Gotto Group, where he gathered plants including the rhododendron named in his honour by Carl Maximovicz, R. weyrichii Maxim. In 1854 the ship returned to the coast of Sakhalin, where Weyrich found more novelties, including Polygonum weyrichii Maxim. After the dispersing of Putiatin's squadron, Weyrich settled in Irkutsk as chief physician in the military hospital. He died in St. Petersburg in 1863.

Sources:
J.H. Barnhart, 1965, Biographical Notes Upon Botanists, 3: 483
E. Bretschneider, 1898, History of European Botanical Discoveries In China: 618-621.