Carl Linnaeus

(1707 – 1778)

Carl Linnaeus, also known as Carl von Linné or Carolus

Linnaeus, is often called the Father of Taxonomy. His

system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms

is still wide use today (with many changes). His ideas on

classification have influenced generations of biologists

during and after his own lifetime, even those opposed to

the philosophical and theological roots of his work.

Systema Naturae

The first edition of Systema Naturae was printed in the

Netherlands in 1735. It was an eleven page work. By the time it

reached its 10th edition (1758), it classified 4,400 species of animals

and 7,700 species of plants. In it, the unwieldy names mostly used at

the time, such as "Physalis annua ramosissima, ramis angulosis

glabris, foliis dentato-serratis", were supplemented with concise and

now familiar "binomials", composed of the generic name, followed

by a specific epithet - in the case given, Physalis Angulata. These

binomials could serve as a label to refer to the species. Higher taxa

were constructed and arranged in a simple and orderly manner. Although the system, now

known as binomial nomenclature was developed by the Bauhin brothers (see Gaspard Bauhin

and Johann Bauhin) almost 200 years earlier, Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently

throughout the work, also in monospecific genera, and may be said to have popularized it

within the scientific community.

 Linnaeus named taxa in ways that personally struck him as common-sensical; for

example, human beings are Homo sapiens (see sapience). He also briefly described a second

human species, Homo troglodytes ("cave-dwelling man"). This was however likely a

confusion originating from exaggerated second- or third-hand accounts of the chimpanzee

(currently most often placed in a different genus, as Pan Troglodytes). The group “mamalia”

are named for their mammary glands because one of the defining characteristics of mammals

is that they nurse their young.

Species Plantarum

Species Plantarum (or, more fully, Species Plantarum, exhibentes plantas rite

cognitas, ad genera relatas, cum differentiis specificis, nominibus trivialibus, synonymis

selectis, locis natalibus, secundum systema sexuale digestas) was first published in 1753, as a

two-volume work. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant

nomenclature as it exists today.

In 1754 Linnaeus divided the plant Kingdom into 25 classes. One, Cryptogamia,

included all the plants with concealed reproductive parts (algae, fungi, mosses and liverworts

and ferns).

Genera Plantarum

Genera plantarum: eorumque characteres naturales secundum numerum, figuram,

situm, et proportionem omnium fructificationis partium was first published in 1737,

delineating plant genera. It reached its sixth edition by 1764.

Systema Plantarum

Systema Plantarum was a work published in 1779 that integrated the botanical aspects

of Systema Naturae with Species Plantarum (and, defacto, Genera Plantarum) to make a

complete work. This work actually presented the fourth edition of Species Plantarum.
 The Linnaean binomial system consists essentially of giving a one-word name such as

Rhododendron or Equus to a genus and a two-word name such as Rhododendron ponticum or

Equus caballus to an individual species within the genus.

Linnaeus did not invent binomial nomenclature. The use of such two-word names for

species or for kinds within a group occurs in many languages and goes back to remote times.

It is indeed the common practice in vernacular nomenclature. Linnaeus gave classification

consistency and precision. He linked each of the specific names for everyday use with a

descriptive name, which helped to identify the species concerned and limited the application

of its two-word name to that one species.

The general adoption by botanists and zoologists of

this consistent two-word nomenclature for species during the

second-half of the 18th century came about because Linnaeus

introduced it in comprehensive works which naturalists soon

found indispensable.

Linnaeus works of binomial nomenclature has greatly change the system of naming

for organisms for mankind even it has been changed and made improvements through his

achievements which allow the scientists now to identify species using his formula and his

published works. His contribution to the world is significant in our everyday life, we should

cherish what he found out.