Linnaean

Lin·nae·an

adj

Definition of LINNAEAN

: of, relating to, or following the systematic methods of the Swedish botanist Linné who established the system of binomial nomenclature

Biographical Note for LINNAEAN

Lin·né \li-ˈnā\ , Carl von ???) (1707–1778), Swedish botanist. Linnaeus is credited with being the first to establish principles for classifying organisms into genera and species and to formulate a uniform system of nomenclature. He was the first to adhere rigorously to the use of two names, one for genus and one for species, for naming plants and animals. A student of botany and medicine, he successfully practiced in both fields before ultimately deciding on botany, his true calling. In 1735 he published the first of his nomenclatorial systems, Systema Naturae. The system was based mainly on flower parts, and although artificial, it had the great merit of enabling the botanist to rapidly place a plant in a named category. In 1753 he published Species Plantarum, in which the specific names of flowering plants and ferns are fully set forth. A born classifier, he not only systematized the plant and animal kingdoms, but he even drew up a classification of minerals and wrote a treatise on the kinds of diseases then known.

Variants of LINNAEAN

Lin·nae·an or Lin·ne·an \lə-ˈnē-ən, -ˈnā-; ˈlin-ē-ən\