Linnaean taxonomy
Carolus Linnaeus' great work, the Systema Naturæ (1st ed. 1735), ran through twelve editions during his lifetime. In this
work, nature was divided into three kingdoms: mineral,
vegetable and animal. Linnaeus used five ranks: class, order,
genus, species, and variety. He abandoned long descriptive names of classes and orders still
used by his immediate predecessors (Rivinus and Pitton de
Tournefort) and replaced them with single-word names,
provided genera with detailed diagnoses (characteres
naturales), and combined numerous varieties into their species,
thus saving botany from the chaos of new forms produced by horticulturalists. Linnaeus is best known for his introduction of the method still used to
formulate the scientific name of every species. Before Linnaeus, long many-worded names (composed of a generic name and a differentia
specifica) had been used, but as these names gave a description of the
species, they were not fixed. In his Philosophia Botanica (1751)
Linnaeus took every effort to improve the composition and reduce the
length of the many-worded names by abolishing unnecessary
rhetorics, introducing new descriptive terms and defining their meaning with an unprecedented precision. In the late 1740s Linnaeus
began to use a parallel system of naming species with nomina trivialia.
Nomen triviale, a trivial name, was a single- or two-word epithet
placed on the margin of the page next to the many-worded "scientific"
name. The only rules Linnaeus applied to them was that the trivial
names should be short, unique within a given genus, and that they should not be changed. Linnaeus consistently applied nomina trivialia
to the species of plants in Species Plantarum (1st edn. 1753) and to the species of animals in the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ (1758). By consistently using these specific epithets, Linnaeus separated
nomenclature from description. Even though the parallel use of nomina
trivialia and many-worded descriptive names continued until late in
the eighteenth century, it was gradually replaced by the practice of
using shorter proper names consisting of the generic name and the
trivial name of the species. In the nineteenth century, this new practice was codified in the first Rules and Laws of Nomenclature, and the 1st
edn. of Species Plantarum and the 10th edn. of Systema Naturae were
chosen as starting points for the Botanical and Zoological
Nomenclature respectively. This convention for naming species is
referred to as binomial nomenclature. Today, nomenclature is regulated by Nomenclature Codes, which allows names divided into taxonomic rank
work, nature was divided into three kingdoms: mineral,
vegetable and animal. Linnaeus used five ranks: class, order,
genus, species, and variety. He abandoned long descriptive names of classes and orders still
used by his immediate predecessors (Rivinus and Pitton de
Tournefort) and replaced them with single-word names,
provided genera with detailed diagnoses (characteres
naturales), and combined numerous varieties into their species,
thus saving botany from the chaos of new forms produced by horticulturalists. Linnaeus is best known for his introduction of the method still used to
formulate the scientific name of every species. Before Linnaeus, long many-worded names (composed of a generic name and a differentia
specifica) had been used, but as these names gave a description of the
species, they were not fixed. In his Philosophia Botanica (1751)
Linnaeus took every effort to improve the composition and reduce the
length of the many-worded names by abolishing unnecessary
rhetorics, introducing new descriptive terms and defining their meaning with an unprecedented precision. In the late 1740s Linnaeus
began to use a parallel system of naming species with nomina trivialia.
Nomen triviale, a trivial name, was a single- or two-word epithet
placed on the margin of the page next to the many-worded "scientific"
name. The only rules Linnaeus applied to them was that the trivial
names should be short, unique within a given genus, and that they should not be changed. Linnaeus consistently applied nomina trivialia
to the species of plants in Species Plantarum (1st edn. 1753) and to the species of animals in the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ (1758). By consistently using these specific epithets, Linnaeus separated
nomenclature from description. Even though the parallel use of nomina
trivialia and many-worded descriptive names continued until late in
the eighteenth century, it was gradually replaced by the practice of
using shorter proper names consisting of the generic name and the
trivial name of the species. In the nineteenth century, this new practice was codified in the first Rules and Laws of Nomenclature, and the 1st
edn. of Species Plantarum and the 10th edn. of Systema Naturae were
chosen as starting points for the Botanical and Zoological
Nomenclature respectively. This convention for naming species is
referred to as binomial nomenclature. Today, nomenclature is regulated by Nomenclature Codes, which allows names divided into taxonomic rank
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