John Forbes, M.D. was an English botanist.

Forbes was born in 1799, and became a pupil of John Shepherd of the Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 botanic garden. The Horticultural Society

Horticultural society

A horticultural society is an organization devoted to the study and culture of cultivated plants. Such organizations may be local, regional, national, or international...

 despatched him to the east coast of Africa, and he left London in February 1822, in the expedition commanded by Captain William Fitzwilliam Owen

William Fitzwilliam Owen

Vice Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen , was a British naval officer and explorer. He is best known for his exploration of the west and east African coasts, discovery of the Seaflower Channel off the coast of Sumatra and for surveying the Canadian Great Lakes...

.

He sent home substantial collections from Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

, Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...

, and Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

, after which he decided to march up the Zambesi River to the Portuguese station at Zumbo

Zumbo

Zumbo is the most western town in Mozambique, on the Zambezi River. Lying on the north-east bank of the Zambezi-Luangwa River confluence, it is a border town, with Zambia across the Luangwa River and Zimbabwe diagonally across the Zambezi and 2 km upstream...

, three hundred leagues from the mouth of the river, and thence southwards to the Cape. He succumbed to fatigue and privation at Sena

Vila de Sena

Vila de Sena or more commonly Sena is a town in Mozambique where there is an fundamental bridge over the Zambezi River. This bridge, the Dona Ana Bridge was originally a single track railway bridge, temporarily converted to road operation during the civil war.The town lies on the east bank of the...

, in August 1823, before travelling half the distance. The genus Forbesia, Eckl., commemorates him as collector.