Carl Linnaeus: Prince of Botanists
Flower petals contribute nothing to generation, serving only as bridal bed which the great creator has so gloriously prepared, adorned with such precious bed curtains, and perfumed with so many sweet scents in order that the bridegroom & bride may therein celebrate their prenuptial with great solemnity. When the bed has thus been made ready, then is the time for the bridegroom to embrace his beloved bride and surrender himself to her.
~ Carl Linnaeus
The botanical garden of Carolus Linnaeus. Public Domain {{PD-1923}}
Hendrik Hollander, Carolus Linnaeus in Laponian costume (1853).
Photo by University of Amsterdam
By definition, a science is a systematically organized body of knowledge on a particular subject. In the 18th century, Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus made a landmark contribution to the life sciences when he established his system of classification using binomial nomenclature. In this system, each type of organism is assigned a Latin name made up of what we refer to today as genus and species. Published in 1735, his Systema Naturae was the first of his works to introduce the Linnaean system, which has endured to form the basis for modern taxonomy.
The son of a gardener, Linnaeus pursued dual careers in medicine and botany. This is not altogether surprising, since the two fields were then closely linked, given the extensive use of herbs to treat numerous ailments. He was, however, prone to romanticizing the science behind his discoveries, including that of sexual reproduction in plants. His descriptions of this process were so rife in human sexual imagery that they provoked great interest, both negative and positive, from European society.