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E May07 Linnaeus 28/3/07 18:44 Page 2 e May07 Linnaeus 28/3/07 18:44 Page 2 PLANTSHISTORY Linnaeus was almost always pictured holding Linnea borealis, a world around him he began to classify the building blocks diminutive evergreen of nature, imposing rules on its study that were to shrub native to Sweden LINNAEUS TODAY revolutionise horticulture, botany and zoology. that was named for him Mike Grant, Editor, at his own request. In The Plantsman, writes: this 1905 copy of a Scientific names, styled in In a class Towards binomia 1774 painting, Latin, have the advantage of The first step in Linnaeus’ endeavour was to create a rigor- Linnaeus is being universal tags. They do ous taxonomy by which living things could be classified, shown wearing the Royal not need to be translated but his controversial ‘sexual system’ of plant classification, Order of the from one language to another and therefore considered scandalous at the time (see box, p317), was Northern Star enable us to communicate unambiguously of his own superseded within a century of its first publication in his about plants the world over. Born 300 years ago this month, Linnaeus wanted Systema Naturae (1735). Botanists have subsequently built on His second step, however, was more popular and far Linnaeus’ naming system so we now have nothing less than to classify the whole natural world. a strict set of rules governing the naming longer-lived. In 1753 he published Species Plantarum, uni- of plants. These rules, the International Andrea Wulf admires his ambition and evaluates versally acknowledged as the starting point of modern plant Code of Botanical Nomenclature, regulate his legacy. Images from the Linnean Society names. Linnaeus estimated the world’s flora at 20,000 species the construction of names, the way they (estimates today vary between 235,000 and 400,000),and are first published, and the designation of either applied or recognised some 9,000 plant species during a preserved specimen that fixes the applica- EVERY TIME WE GARDEN we are in the company of one his lifetime:those with the abbreviation ‘L.’after their name, tion of the name. All this helps botanists great man: Linnaeus. Born Carl Linnaeus on 23 May 1707, Linnaeus invented or validated. provide names that can then be used by everyone to communicate about plants. in the little village of Råshult in Småland, Sweden, he was Until then, the naming of plants had been confusing, Without this international naming also known as Carolus Linnaeus (the Latinised version particularly as it was a time when growing numbers of system gardening would be much more of his name) or, following his ennoblement in 1761, Carl unknown plants were being introduced from across the difficult and frustrating. von Linné. Whenever we read the name of a plant we globe.A ‘new’American shrub, for instance, could receive acknowledge his great invention, binomial nomenclature. different names in Paris, London and Leiden. IMMORTALISED IN GENERA Among those favoured by Linnaeus with ornamental genera Imagine trying to discuss plants using only their The problem was exacerbated by the cumbersome named for them were his old teacher Olaf common names, which often vary from one village to the naming methods of the old systems. Most British botanists Rudbeck, who gave his name to North American Rudbeckia (bottom) and a favourite ‘HAVING CONDEMNED LINNAEUS’ SEXUAL SYSTEM AS “LOATHSOME HARLOTRY”, pupil Pehr Kalm, who got Kalmia (below) HE WAS PUNISHED BY LENDING HIS NAME TO SIEGESBECKIA, A STINKING WEED’ next,let alone country to country.Linnaeus gave every plant still used 17th-century naturalist John Ray’s system,includ- a two-word name – Magnolia grandiflora, for example, a ing lengthy descriptions of the species’ habitat, leaf shapes universal name that would be the same in Cornwall,China, and calyx.Today’s Kalmia angustifolia,for example,was then Sydney or Samarkand. Standardised nomenclature brought called Chamaedaphne sempervirens, foliis oblongis angustis, order to chaos and confusion; without it, the sharing of foliorum fasciculis opposites – ‘evergreen dwarf laurel, with botanical knowledge and research, the fundamental basis oblong narrow leaves growing in bunches,which are placed of horticulture and botany today, would be impossible. opposite’.Worse,with each new plant introduction,existing names had to be changed, to include the distinguishing Widely travelled traits between the new species and those already known. As a young man, Carl Linnaeus studied medicine in the Linnaeus’solution was brilliant,easy and straightforward. Netherlands and visited England and France,meeting many He gave every plant a two-word name, like a first name and R H of Europe’s most famous botanists (the use of herbal cures surname.The ‘surname’ was the genus, such as Kalmia or S linked the fields of medicine and botany). He returned to Magnolia, which often commemorated a friend or the Sweden in 1738 and, three years later, was appointed genus’s discoverer.To that Linnaeus added a second word IT’S ALL IN A NAME Professor of Medicine and director of the botanic gardens such as angustifolia or grandiflora, to signify individual The binomial (two-name) system devised by Carl Linnaeus continues to be used, at Uppsala.There, in his own rather immodest phrase, he species.Thus Weymouth pine, previously Pinus Americana although today extra names may be added to distinguish variations within species ‘brought the natural sciences to their highest peak’. quinis ex uno folliculo setis longis tenuibus triquetris ad unum Adored by his students for his passionate teaching, yet angulum per totam longitudinem minutissimis crenis asperatis, Rudbeckia hirta ‘Indian Summer’ hated by his enemies for his self-glorification and arrogance, was reduced to Pinus strobus.By its very simplicity,binomial Linnaeus always seemed to his contemporaries to be in a naming democratised and popularised botany. The first part of Linnaeus’ The second part is the species Many garden plants have a hurry, as if life were too short to complete the task he had binomial system gives name, akin to a person’s first third part to their name, the set himself: to bring order to the natural world. Binomial is best closely related plants a name. Further variations can cultivar (cultivated variety) genus name, akin to a be recognised by divisions into name, referring to a hybrid or Convinced that ‘God Himself led me with His own Linnaeus’ genius was to understand that a name did not surname subspecies (usually abbreviated selection from the species. It is almighty hand’, Linnaeus, a compulsive cataloguer and have to include details of the plant’s characteristics such as to subsp.), varietas (var.) and written in single quotation taxonomist, was reputedly unable to understand anything forma (f.) marks and not italicised colour,leaf shape or habitat:this information could be looked R H that was not systematically ordered.To make sense of the up in botanical encyclopedias.The binomial name was P S 314 May 2007 May 2007 315 e May07 Linnaeus 28/3/07 18:44 Page 4 PLANTSHISTORY SUCCINCT AND PRECISE The names of plants before the binomial system could be unwieldy to say the least: before being a label, a point of reference: standardised and universal, it naming plants in their honour. For his old teacher Olof simplified to Lathyrus odoratus, sweet pea was called Lathyrus was easy to use and at the same time gave access to more Rudbeck, for example, Linnaeus chose the glorious distoplatyphyllus hirsutus mollis, available information. Linnaeus’ attempt to bring order to Rudbeckia.To celebrate his pupil’s Pehr Kalm’s bountiful magno & peramano flore odoro a complex world resonated with many other aspects of expedition to the American colonies, Linnaeus called one mid-18th-century intellectual life in the Enlightenment. of the most-coveted North American shrubs Kalmia. At first, botanists were reluctant to see the advantages of He now also had a powerful tool against his opponents, the radical new names. Eventually, however, they began to as he could single out insignificant plants or weeds for understand the value of an international naming standard, them.The first to experience Linnaeus’ scorn was Johann leaving Linnaeus in an unassailable position: plant names Siegesbeck, demonstrator of the St Petersburg botanic were now decided by him alone. garden. Having condemned Linnaeus’ sexual system as He was able to confer immortality on fellow botanists by ‘loathsome harlotry’,he was punished by lending his name to Siegesbeckia, a stinking weed. Demystifying botany At the beginning of the 18th century, botany had been the preserve of a few learned men: it was so complex only extensive libraries and long studies gave students access to its secrets.Within a century, Linnaeus’ simplicity brought botany to an amateur audience. Educated women went ‘botanising’, with portable presses to dry picked plants, entertaining themselves by classifying their finds. Linnaeus’ work also inspired a new generation of thinkers, such as Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier who, almost 40 years later, erased the vestiges of alchemy from chemistry when he introduced a nomenclature for chemical elements which, like the binomial system, was simple and logical. In simplifying the complex language of botany into one international standard,Linnaeus became one of the most in- fluential botanists of the past 300 years.His Species Plantarum was a monumental work, a methodological feat that made him simply the most ingenious classifier of his time. His sexual classification system was a brilliant method for its time. It allowed plant hunters as well as amateurs to LINNEAN TAXONOMY identify plants straightforwardly, as long as they could While the binomial naming system that Linnaeus count the pistils and stamens. It could be used in the introduced is still in use, his taxonomic system soon wilderness of the new colonies, in the pleasure grounds of fell out of favour.
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