Max Gürke

Gürke attended the Realschule in Görlitz, obtaining his Matura certificate in 1875, studied natural sciences in Berlin and later worked as a teacher in a military academy in Görlitz. In 1886, he became scientific assistant at the Botanical Garden in Berlin and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem, obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen in 1892 with a thesis on the plant family Malvaceae. He was named an associate curator in 1892, and a curator in 1893, and was awarded the title of professor in 1904.

He was fellow of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and recipient of the Order of the Red Eagle (4th class). From 1905 to 1910, he was the first President of the German Cactus Society (Deutsche Kakteen-Gesellschaft).

The genus Guerkea (Apocynaceae) was named for him by Karl Moritz Schumann.

• Plantae Europeae, with Karl Richter (1890–1903).[1]
• Blühende Kakteen, with Karl Moritz Schumann (1900–1921).
• The chapters Hydrocharitaceae, Ebenaceae, Symplocaceae, Styracaceae and Boraginaceae in Engler and Prantl's Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 1887–1915.

• Extensive bibliography at WorldCat
• Verhandlungen des Botanischen Vereins der Provinz Brandenburg, 1911 - long obituary