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Linnaeus, The Name Giver

Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus was an early information architect. He believed that every kind of plant and animal on Earth should be named and classified.

/2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/1-fuchsia-blossom-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/1-fuchsia-blossom-60.jpg Fuchsia blossom, which has eight male stamens around a female pistil. He also compared the sexual parts of each numbered class to complex human relationships. He described class 8, for example, which included the Fuchsia, as "eight men in the same bridal suite with one woman."]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/2-gentian-sage-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/2-gentian-sage-60.jpg Salvia patens, gentian sage, place it in class 2, which Linnaeus described as "two men in the same marriage."]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/3-dahlia-hortensis-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/3-dahlia-hortensis-60.jpg Dahlia hortensis belongs to class 19, described as "The men have created a union with their sexual organs." Botanists now use a different system, but the bold enterprise of Linnaeus—classifying everything into groups within groups—gave a framework to modern biology.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/4-cornflower-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/4-cornflower-60.jpg Centaurea cyanus belongs to class 19.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/5-narrow-leaf-tulip-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/5-narrow-leaf-tulip-60.jpg Tulipa linifolia, is one of about a hundred known members of its genus, closely related to lilies.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/6-bird-paradise-bush-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/6-bird-paradise-bush-60.jpg Caesalpinia, from an earlier botanist who, like Linnaeus, was also a physician.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/7-comfrey-symphytum-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/7-comfrey-symphytum-60.jpg Symphytum, is useful for glue and "effective against blood-spitting," Linnaeus wrote.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/8-thistle-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/8-thistle-60.jpg Cirsium vulgare, seemingly far from a dahlia, also falls in class 19.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/9-carl-linnaeus-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/9-carl-linnaeus-60.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/10-malope-trifida-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/10-malope-trifida-60.jpg Malope (as in Malope trifida) is one of many coined by Linnaeus, who named and renamed thousands of species, bringing order to a chaotic body of information.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/11-cockspur-coral-tree-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/11-cockspur-coral-tree-60.jpg Erythrina crista-galli, the cockspur coral tree, is considered a medicinal plant in Argentina, where it is used as a natural sedative and a disinfectant. Linnaeus placed this species in the Diadelphia class, based on the arrangement of the stamens in its flowers—nine bundled around a pistil and one standing alone.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/12-star-magnolia-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/12-star-magnolia-60.jpg Magnolia stellata, or star magnolia, bears fragrant white flowers in early spring. Native to Japan, magnolias are garden favorites in the U.S. and are the state flowers of Mississippi and Louisiana. Linnaeus included the magnolia in the Polyandria class—plants whose flowers have 20 or more stamens gathered under the base of the pistil.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/13-stinging-nettle-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/13-stinging-nettle-60.jpg Urtica dioica inflict a burning sting if brushed against the skin, but the stinging nettle has long been valued for medicinal purposes. When cooked, young nettle leaves are used in herbal remedies for arthritis, anemia, asthma, and hay fever. Like the stinging nettle, other plants in Linnaeus's Dioecia class bear unisexual flowers—blossoms with only male or female sexual organs, unlike hermaphrodite flowers, which contain both.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/14-scabiosa-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/14-scabiosa-60.jpg Scabiosa) are preserved at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/15-cyperus-papyrus-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/15-cyperus-papyrus-60.jpg Cyperus papyrus represents one of thousands of species named by Linnaeus himself.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/16-maidenhair-fern-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/16-maidenhair-fern-60.jpg Adiantum raddianum, the delta maidenhair fern, to a class he called Cryptogamia, meaning "hidden marriage." He lumped mosses, lichens, mushrooms, and algae, among others, with the cryptogams—many of them so distinctly different from each other that they have since been reclassified.]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/17-wax-plant-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/17-wax-plant-60.jpg Hoya subquintuplinervis—the wax plant—is a popular houseplant and garden ornament, with its scented five-petal flower clusters. Others in what Linnaeus called the Pentandria class—plants with five stamens—include Lycopersicon (tomato), Daucus (carrot), and Nicotiana (tobacco).]]> /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/18-banana-plant-475h.jpg /2007/06/linnaeus-name-giver/img/18-banana-plant-60.jpg Musa ornata is a banana plant native to southern Asia. Linnaeus was the first person to succeed in growing bananas in Europe, simulating a tropical environment by letting the plants dry out, then providing copious amounts of water.]]>