CO PROCEEDIKGS OP THE 



orio"inal limits, aud the political boundaries of a flora o£ Germany 

 had given way to the more natural conception of a flora of Central 

 Europe. But extensive as this " Synopsis der mitteleuropaischen 

 Plora" was, it was to be not less intensive and exhaustive. The 

 material that had accumulated in those long years was beyond the 

 powers of a single man. Ascherson was moreover feeling the 

 weight of his years. He associated himself therefore wisely with 

 other workers in the same field, and especially with his young 

 friend and pupil Paul Griibner, who was destined to carry the 

 monumental work further when the master should fail. By 

 the time of Ascherson's death the 'Synopsis' had already filled 

 7 volumes. It is not here the place to criticise or appreciate the 

 work in particular ; but this much may be said, that it is unequalled 

 in thoroughuess and erudition and in the accumulation of details. 

 It breathes Ascherson's spirit. His range of knowledge was 

 encyclopedic. Thorough and painstaking to a fault, eager to make 

 the most of the marvellous store of facts which his very long 

 experience and extensive reading, connected with a wonderfully 

 retentive memory, placed at his disposal, he was an unrivalled 

 master of detail. Therein was his strength, aud also his weakness 

 in so far as he never seemed to be able to free himself from the 

 fetters of his erudition. The volume which his frieuds published 

 on the occasion of his seventieth birthday contains a list of his 

 publications. It ranges from 1853 to 1904 and occupies no less 

 than forty-four pages, a truly amazing output. They are, however, 

 mostly short notices, covering the most heterogeneous subjects. 

 There are, apart from his ' l^lora der Mark Brandenburg ' and 

 his ' Synopsis der mitteleuropaischen Flora,' only two subjects 

 of a larger scope which fascinated him sulficiently to attempt 

 really comprehensive treatment, namely, the marine phanerogams 

 aud the flora of Egypt. His monographs of the former are the 

 best that have been written on those remarkable plants from the 

 morphological as well as the taxouomic point. As to the flora of 

 Egypt he collaborated with his friend Schweinfurth. His interest 

 in that flora arose no doubt out of the cordial relations he had 

 from early days entertained with the great African explorer, and 

 it was deepened by repeated visits to Egypt. He first went 

 with Gerhardt Rohlfs on his expedition to the Libyan Desert 

 (ISTS-lST-l) and two years later went alone to the Little 

 Oasis. In later years he accompanied Schweinfurth repeatedly 

 on excursions in Lower Egypt. A number of smaller papers 

 resulted from those travels ; but the final outcome of his studies 

 and collectious on Egyptian soil was merged in a work of 

 collaboration, ' Illustration de la flore d'Egypte,' which under his 

 and Schweinfurth's joint authorship was published in Cairo in 

 1887 and followed by a supplement in 1889. It was in the nature 

 of a critical enumeration of the plants then known from Egypt up 

 to the Nubian frontier (22'^ N. lat.). In the absence of a " Mora " 

 of Egypt and embodying in clear and concise exposition the un- 

 rivalled experience of the two foremost authorities on the plants 



