Alexander Eig was born in Schedrin near Minsk. He used to wander in the forests and join his family on hunting and fishing expeditions observing the plants around. At the age of 15 he immigrated to Palestine, where he became a student at Mikveh Israel agricultural school.
In 1925 he was invited by Otto Warburg to join the agricultural experimental station in Tel Aviv, where he worked with Michael Zohary. A year later, the unit moved to Jerusalem, and they joined the staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. That year he married Itta Faktorovsky, the sister of his closest friend and fellow botanist Elazar Faktorovsky.
On 1937 he was invited by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi to testify before the Peel Commission, on the question of whether the country could sustain a large population. He was later asked to prepare a map that would serve the arguments of the Zionist side in the international arena.
Eig, Alexander (1926). A contribution to the knowledge of the Flora of Palestine. Tel-Aviv. OCLC917330167.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Eig, Alexander (1927). A second contribution to the knowledge of the flora of Palestine. Bulletin (Zionist Organisation, Institute of Agriculture and Natural History), 6. Tel-Aviv. OCLC1004245180.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
With Michael Zohary and Naomi Feinbrun-Dothan he organised the distribution of plant specimens from Israel in exsiccata series.[2] The first series issued in 1930 is entitled Flora exsiccata Palaestinae a sectione botanica Universitatis Hebraicae Hierosolymitanae edita.[3]
Taxonomic patronyms
In honor of Alexander Eig, four taxonomic patronyms were given in plants with names of genus, species and subspecies: