German botanist, ethnographer and historian from Berlin who trained initially in medicine before turning to botany. Paul Ascherson was employed as an Assistant (1860-1865) and latterly Curator (1865-1884) at the Berlin botanical gardens. He gained his doctorate from the University of Rostock (1873) and was appointed Professor at the University of Berlin (1884). He made a number of expeditions to Africa (1873-1887) and described the plants collected by G. Rohlfs and A. Stecker (1879) on a landmark Saharan expedition to the Libyan desert. Ascherson was mainly known as a leading authority on the Central European flora. His original herbarium at B was largely destroyed during the Second World War. The genera Aschersoniodoxa Gilg & Muschl. in the Brassicaceae and Bisaschersonia Kuntze in the Ebenaceae were named in his honour.