68 



now antiquated and rare, it was determined not only to complete 

 the work, but to re-write entirely the older portion. Dr. Gray 

 brought to this great work the experience gathered by close 

 apphcation and study during his whole life, and pubHshed in 

 1 878, Volume II, Part i , of The Synoptical Flora of North Amer- 

 ica (Gamopetalas after Composite.) In 1884 appeared Volume 

 I, Part 2 (CaprifoHaceae Compositae), thus completing the great 

 division of the Gamopetalae. This last publication covers the 

 same ground as Volume II of the old Flora, and may well be 

 called the crowning work of his life. It is almost entirely devoted 

 to the Compositse, an order to which Dr. Gray had given the 

 closest attention, both in this country and in the herbaria of 

 Europe. The interest awakened among American botanists by 

 his Studies of Aster and Solidago in the Older Herbaria, pub- 

 lished in the Proceedings of the American Academy in 1882, 

 shows how eagerly the publication of the volume was awaited. 

 In 1886 supplements were published to each part and bound 

 with the two parts in a single volume. This great work at once 

 raises Dr. Gray to the highest rank among the systematic bot- 

 anists of the world. 



On the occasion of Dr. Gray's seventy-fifth birthday, the 

 i8th of Nov^, 1885, the botanists of North America, led by the 

 editors of the Botanical Gazette, presented to the distinguished 

 botanist a handsome silver vase, with the inscription, '^ 18 10, 

 November eighteenth, 1885. Asa Gray, 'in token of the univer- 

 sal esteem of American Botanists." The vase, a full account of 

 which appeared In the Gazette at the time, was beautifully em- 

 bossed with flowers peculiarly appropriate to the occasion. 

 Prominent among them and fitly commemorating the name of 

 our beloved friend and teacher, were Grayia polygaloides, Liliu^^ 

 Grayi and NotholcEna Grayi. 



A silver salver, accompanying the vase^ received the cards of 

 the givers, and was marked with the Inscription, '* Bearing the 

 greetings of one hundred and eighty botanists of North America 

 to Asa Gray on his 75th birthday, Nov. 18, 1885." It was a 

 beautiful tribute to a man so universally loved and honored. 



Dr. Gray was married in 1848 to Jane L. Loring, the daugh- 

 ter of the late Hon. Chas. G. Loring, one of the most distin- 



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