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The botanist who took 30 years to name 18 trees: 'It is a race against myself'

Botanist José Luis Fernández-Alonso at the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.

It is as though the walls of his office were almost covered by the dead branches of a tree. Floor-to-ceiling shelves are packed with folders, their once-red and green covers faded by time. Inside are dozens of tropical dried plant specimens, tied with string alongside pages of notes. To most people, the mass of documentation would look like a pile of leaves fallen from the sky, but José Luis Fernández-Alonso knows exactly where everything is in his small jungle.

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The botanist José Luis Fernández-Alonso in a greenhouse at the Royal Botanical Garden.The botanist José Luis Fernández-Alonso sits on a bench at the Royal Botanical Garden.
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