lives both from superstitious Tibetan locals and the 'White Wolves' rebels. These two years of exploring and plant collecting are described in Farrer's On the Eaves of the World (2 vols) (1917), and Farrer's posthumous The Rainbow Bridge (1921). In those volumes, Farrer very much indicates that the expedition could not have succeeded without the drive, the organisational talents and experience of his co-worker William Purdom. Following the expedition, Purdom chose to remain in China and in 1916 was appointed an Inspector of Forests to the Chinese Government in Beijing, particularly concerning himself with re-afforestation projects. When that department was dissolved in 1918, he transferred to the section of government planning the development of the rapidly expanding railway system. In the later capacity he was based in the city of Xinyang on the Beijing to Hankou rail-line working under the eminent Chinese forester, Han An. Here, a hundred years later, Purdom has been afforded a unique Chinese honour, with the Purdom Forest Park, containing some of his original plantings, named in his recognition. At this point he came into professional contact with the Belgian railway engineer and botanical collector, Joseph Hers, who was himself working on the new railway heading towards Xi'an. Hers acknowledged their friendship and collaboration in an article that he wrote in 1923. The pair with similar interests and a love for China, planned to edit Flora of China, but the plan was abandoned probably owing to the premature death of Purdom in Beijing 1921 from complications following a minor operation on an infected gland in his neck. Hers went on to acknowledge Purdom, both as a friend and botanical collaborator in his later writings in the Bulletin de la Société Dendrologique de France.. Purdom collected very many plants new to science and horticulture. Although many of the epithets originally given in his honour have been superseded, quite a number across a wide spectrum of genera still remain in use. These names were given by botanists at both the Arnold Arboretum using the specimens that he had sent there, and those at Kew (whence he had been earlier dismissed) when studying flowering specimens of new plants sent there by the Veitch Nursery. Purdom's eponymous species include: Rhododendron purdomii, Populus purdomii, Ligularia purdomii, Dryopteris purdomii, Gentiana purdomii, Primula purdomii, Caragana purdomii, Berberis purdomii, Leptodermis purdomii, Astralagus purdomii, Dracocephalum purdomii. Botanical records now reveal that it was Purdom who