Nature Named

You are here:

Introduction

Classification

Since the beginning of history, people have given names to plants and animals. Names help to distinguish between helpful and dangerous animals and plants. The names given may describe practical and medical properties, or spiritual beliefs associated with them. We can think of common names as a treasure trove of cultural, historical, and even linguistic knowledge.

But not everyone is happy to use common names. The biggest problem is that they aren't specific - several species might have the same name because they look similar or share some property. Equally, one species might be known by dozens of different common names. Research has found that one British plant, the lords-and-ladies, has over 90 common names.

By the eighteenth century, scientists were looking at living things more closely, travelling to new places, and finding new species as they did so. They were also seeing similarities and relationships between species, and building up systems of classification (visit our introduction to classification).

When writing about their findings, and sharing their knowledge with others working far away in other countries, they had to be able to specify exactly which plant or animal they were working on.

One man is credited with providing the answer - Carl Linnaeus, a professor of medicine at the university of Uppsala, Sweden, from 1741 to 1778. In his Systema naturae, Linnaeus sorted plants and animals into groups that showed similarities, and gave them a two-part name. The first part of this named the group (the genus) to which things belonged. The second part (the species name) was given to all individuals that were so closely related that they could breed and produce fertile offspring.

The basic principle of Linnaeus's system is still in use today, as is the practice of using Greek and Latin words to name things. Although cloaked in the classical languages of academia, like their common name counterparts, scientific names are often only based on descriptions of the properties and appearance of the organisms involved. Nature Navigator helps to reveal the meanings of many of these scientific names.

It's amusing to learn that, using his naming system, Linnaeus even re-named himself, Carolus Linnaeus, and a number of 'creatures' whose existence was still in doubt at that time - including the Phoenix and dragons.

For some, like Linnaeus, naming and classification can be a life's work and a passion. But, it has to be admitted that others go into a glazed look and their minds are set wandering at the very mention of the subject.

Read the poem "The Naming of Parts" by Henry Reed.

Nature Named

Further reading