botanists, the brothers Gaspard and Johann Bauhin, had
attempted to simplify species names by pruning (quite
aptly) the descriptive phrases wherever possible. Their
work served as something of a launching pad for
Linnaeus, who retained many of their names for genera. In
concert with the generic name, the binomial system
developed by Linnaeus adopts a single unique species
name that need not necessarily be descriptive of the
organism itself. Binomial names, or ‘trivial’ names, as
Linnaeus liked to refer to them, first appeared consistently
in Species Plantarum, published in 1753. Additional
stability was introduced via Linnaeus’ later ‘law of
priority’ which gives precedence to the binomial name
first used in a published description of a species or genus.
Linnaeus was appointed rector of Uppsala University in
1750, and directed a number of his best students, or
‘apostles’ on expeditions around the globe to collect
specimens; one was to accompany Captain James Cook
aboard the Endeavour. In later life he extended his
interests to include other scientific disciplines. He was a
founder of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and
worked to better his homeland on a number of fronts. In
1761 he was granted the status of nobility by the king, by
which time he had become universally acclaimed, and was
the recipient of specimens from around the globe. He died
in 1778 after suffering a number of strokes.
After Linnaeus‘ death, upkeep of his extensive natural
history collections, housed in a stone building near the
family farm outside Uppsala, fell to his son Carl. Upon his
death a few years later, Linnaeus’ widow sold the
collections, along with numerous books and manuscripts,
to James Edward Smith, who later founded the Linnean
Society of London, which now boasts that it is the world’s
oldest extant biological society.
The binomial system devised by Linnaeus was quickly
recognised by scientists as being simple, economical and
reliable. Species Plantarum (1753) is now acknowledged
as the starting point of botanical binomial nomenclature.
Similarly, the 10 th edition of Linnaeus’ other major work,
Above: Linnaeus’ birthplace, the vicar’s homestead at
Råshult, Småland, Sweden. Image by Lars Aronsson,
licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 1.0 License.
Above right: the covers of Linnaeus’ most important
works; Species Platarum (1753) and Systems Naturae
(11th edition, 1760, printed in Germany.