﻿ASA 
  GRAY 
  

  

  Asa 
  Gray, 
  foremost 
  American 
  botanist 
  of 
  the 
  nineteenth 
  century 
  (b. 
  1810 
  ; 
  d. 
  1888), 
  

   was 
  trained 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  physician, 
  but 
  relinquished 
  medicine 
  for 
  botany. 
  He 
  taught 
  

   during 
  the 
  school 
  year, 
  made 
  collecting 
  trips 
  in 
  summer 
  or 
  worked 
  in 
  European 
  

   botanical 
  centers, 
  and 
  built 
  up 
  the 
  famous 
  Gray 
  Herbarium 
  of 
  Harvard 
  University. 
  

   As 
  professor 
  of 
  botany 
  at 
  Harvard 
  from 
  1842, 
  he 
  taught 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  older 
  botanists 
  

   of 
  the 
  present 
  generation. 
  In 
  1836 
  he 
  began 
  a 
  series 
  of 
  elementary 
  textbooks, 
  

   which 
  were 
  widely 
  used 
  for 
  more 
  than 
  fifty 
  years. 
  His 
  many 
  botanical 
  publications 
  

   are 
  chiefly 
  systematic. 
  A 
  great 
  teacher, 
  a 
  close 
  friend 
  of 
  his 
  students, 
  a 
  constant 
  

   worker 
  and 
  author 
  of 
  admirably 
  written 
  scientific 
  and 
  popular 
  articles, 
  he 
  is 
  the 
  

   most 
  important 
  figure 
  among 
  the 
  founders 
  of 
  botany 
  in 
  America 
  

  

  