Alexander Curt Brade (1881–1971) was a German botanist who specialized in the study of the orchids and ferns of Brazil and Costa Rica. Born on 19 June 1881 at Forst (Lausitz), Brade studied architecture at Görlitz in Silesia, but became increasingly interested in botany. After working for several years in Germany as an architect and construction engineer, he accepted an invitation to join his brother Alfred, who lived in San Jose, Costa Rica, and owned a horticultural business in Europe. Arriving at Puerto Limon in January 1908, Brade embarked on plant hunting expeditions along the Atlantic coast. Over the next two and a half years, he collected about 500 plant species, however much of his collection was to be destroyed in the bombing of the Berlin-Dahlem Museum in World War II before it w