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This site contains information on the life and botanical activities of a pioneer scientist of the Middle East, George Edward Post (1838-1909.) Trained as a surgeon, dentist, and cleric, Post served as a Union chaplain in the American Civil War and went to Syria as a missionary in 1863. A few years later he moved to the Syrian Protestant College (the present American University of Beirut) as one of the founders of the medical school. In addition to contributions in archeology, architecture, botany, medicine, and natural history, Post authored one of the earliest floras of the Middle East in both Arabic and English. The red poppy, Papaver postii, is one of several plants named after Post. It is native to Turkey, Syria, and Cyprus.