Richard Spruce followed Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace to the Amazon having a passionate interest in plants. He is perhaps best known for his participation in the cultivation of quinine used extensively in the treatment of Malaria, a disease that has killed more people than any other. Spruce is also regarded as one of the greatest tropical plant explorers of all time. His collections in South America were the most extensive since Alexander von Humboldt.
On his exploration in the Amazon, Spruce lived with indigenous people, held scientific ideas beyond his time and learnt several languages. Spruce provided the first detailed and accurate information on a jungle vine now known by the scientific name of Banisteropsis caapi, or simply Caapi in Brazil and Ayahuasca in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.
“I have been stung by wasps I suppose hundreds of times once very badly, having above twenty stings in my head and face alone. Yet I have always admired their beauty, ingenuity, and heroic ferocity”
- Richard Spruce