Genera Plantarum

Genera Plantarum is a publication of Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). The first edition was issued in Leiden, 1737. The fifth edition served as a complementary volume to Species Plantarum (1753). Article 13 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants states that "Generic names that appear in Linnaeus' Species Plantarum ed. 1 (1753) and ed. 2 (1762–63) are associated with the first subsequent description given under those names in Linnaeus' Genera Plantarum ed. 5 (1754) and ed. 6 (1764)." This defines the starting point for nomenclature of most groups of plants.^[1]

The first edition of Genera Plantarum contains brief descriptions of the 935 plant genera that were known to Linnaeus at that time. It is dedicated to Herman Boerhaave, a Leiden physician who introduced Linnaeus to George Clifford and the medico-botanical Dutch establishment of the day. Genera Plantarum employed his “sexual system” of classification, in which plants are grouped according to the number of stamens and pistils in the flower. Genera Plantarum was revised several times by Linnaeus, the fifth edition being published in August 1754 (eds. 3 and 4 were not edited by Linnaeus) and linked to the first edition of Species Plantarum.^[1] Over the 16 years that passed between the publication of the first and fifth editions the number of genera listed had increased from 935 to 1105.

Linnaeus established the system of binomial nomenclature through the widespread acceptance of his list of plants in the 1753 edition of Species Plantarum, which is now taken as the starting point for all botanical nomenclature. Genera Plantarum was an integral part of this first stepping stone towards a universal standardised biological nomenclature.

History

From 1735 to 1738 Linnaeus worked in the Netherlands where he was personal physician to George Clifford (1685–1760) a wealthy Anglo-Dutch merchant–banker with an impressive garden containing four large glasshouses that were filled with warmth-loving plants from overseas. Linnaeus was enthralled by these collections and prepared a detailed systematic catalogue of the plants in the garden, which he published in 1738 as Hortus Cliffortianus. This list was published with engravings by Georg Ehret (1708–1770) and Jan Wandelaer (1690–1759). Linnaeus included Ehret's Tabella (an illustration of his "Sexual System" of plant classification) in his Genera Plantarum but without credit to the artist. This provoked the accusation from Ehret that "When he was a beginner [Linnaeus] appropriated everything for himself which he heard of, to make himself famous".^[2] Nevertheless, Ehret probably met Linnaeus again when the latter visited London for a month. The time in the Netherlands was a productive one for Linnaeus because in these four years he also published Systema Naturae (1735), Bibliotheca Botanica (1736), Fundamenta Botanica (1736), Flora Lapponica (1737) and Critica Botanica (1737), this is in addition to his Genera Plantarum (1737).^[3]

One of Linnaeus's main points is that a botanist can and must know all genera, and must memorise their ‘definitions’ (diagnosis). The natural definitions given in the various editions of the Genera Plantarum are intended to facilitate this.^[4] Stability of generic taxonomy was one of his first aims, and the way he went about achieving it aroused the criticism of many of his contemporaries. Yet, this generic reform was one of his greatest achievements: his genera and their nomenclature stand at the beginning of the victory of Linnaean taxonomy.^[5] He dealt with the theory of generic names in the Critica Botanica which was a prelude to his main practical work on the subject, the Genera Plantarum.^[5] The rules for the formation of generic names are contained in the Fundamenta but are worked out in greater detail in the Critica.^[6] The result was a reform of generic definitions that appeared in the Genera Plantarum.

Publication and dedication

The type-setting of Genera Plantarum started in 1736^[7] leading to the publication of the first edition in early 1737; the book was dedicated to Herman Boerhaave, the great Leiden physician to whom Linnaeus owed his introduction into the medico-botanical Dutch establishment of the day. Linnaeus published a revised edition in 1742. The fifth edition appeared in Stockholm, in 1754, and the sixth, the last one edited by Linnaeus himself, in 1764, also in Stockholm. The last edition that was based on Linnaeus's work was the 9th edition, revised by Kurt Sprengel, and issued in Göttingen, 1830-31.

Botanical background

In the work Linnaeus divided the plant kingdom into 24 classes, each of which he named according to the number of stamens and their arrangement in the flowers. In Ehret’s engraved plate these classes are represented by the 24 letters of the Latin alphabet. In Ehret’s original drawing for the plate, preserved in the Natural History Museum in London, he has written the name of the plant he had chosen as an example of each particular class, but only for the first ten and last four classes. Each of the first ten classes (A–K) is named according to the number of stamens, beginning with Monandria (one stamen), Diandria (two stamens), etc. up to Decandria (ten stamens). The flowers in the eleventh (L) class, Dodecandria, have 12–19 stamens. The following four classes (M–P) are characterized not only by the number of stamens but also by their position; the four classes (Q–T) have stamens united in a bundle or phalanx, the next three classes (V–Y) have stamens and pistils in separate flowers. The whole is completed with Cryptogamia (Z), which are plants without proper flowers. For this class Ehret chose the fig as an example.

Nomenclatural importance

By far the most important edition for nomenclature today is the fifth, published in August 1754 (editions 3 and 4 were not edited by Linnaeus); this is the edition which is linked nomenclaturally with the Species Plantarum, the starting point for the naming of most groups of plants.^[8]

The genus descriptions in this edition were original, methodically and tersely drafted according to his own plan, with an asterisk * following the generic name to indicate that he had studied living material, a dagger † to indicate that he had seen only herbarium material, and the absence of these signs to indicate he had seen no material himself and hence depended upon the literature or correspondence. In preparing a description of a genus he would describe the flower and fruit of the main species most familiar to him and then remove the characters that did not occur in other species. As new species were added Linnaeus should have updated his genus descriptions but in practice did not have time to do so. As a result, some species listed in Species Plantarum do not fit the descriptions in Genus Plantarum.^[9] All generic names in Genera Plantarum ed. 5 are treated as validly published on 1 May 1753.^[1]

Significance

William Stearn states: “The clear typographical layout, the elimination of verbs such as est, occupant and abit, and the much greater detail given for all floral parts … immediately catch the attention. Such improvements in technique made Linnaeus's Genera Plantarum the model for later works on the genera of plants.”^[10]

Frans Stafleu regards Genera Plantarum as Linnaeus’s most important book with respect to the practical introduction of his ideas – even more than Systema Naturae. The notion that the genus is the basic unit of taxonomy remained in force until the advent of evolutionary biology and biosystematics. “His reform was daring and thorough, based on an exceptional and practical knowledge of plants; although influenced by somewhat outmoded ideas, it had exactly the salutary effect which he wanted it to have: consistency and simplicity. These two were prime needs for taxonomy in 1737." ^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Stafleu, p. 102.
^ Stearn in Blunt, p. 107.
^ Stearn, 1986 p. 339.
^ Stafleu, p. 74.
^ ^a ^b Stafleu, p. 91.
^ Stafleu, p. 93.
^ Stafleu, p. 12.
^ Stafleu, p. 16.
^ Stearn 1971, p. 246.
^ Stearn, 1960 p. x.
^ Stafleu, p. 103.

Bibliography

Stafleu, Frans A. 1971. Linnaeus and the Linnaeans: the Spreading of their Ideas in Systematic Botany, 1735–1789. Utrecht: International Association for Plant Taxonomy. ISBN 90-6046-064-2.
Stearn, William T. 1960. “Notes on Linnaeus’s ‘Genera Plantarum’”. In Carl Linnaeus, Genera plantarum fifth edition 1754. Facsimile reprint Weinheim. Historiae Naturalis Classica 3.
Stearn, William T. 1971. In Blunt, William. The Compleat Naturalist: a Life of Linnaeus. New York: Frances Lincoln. ISBN 0-7112-1841-2.
Stearn, William T. 1986. Linnaeus and his students. In "The Oxford Companion to Gardens". Jellicoe, Geoffrey et al. (eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866123-1.

External links

Genera Plantarum online (the second edition (Leiden, 1742) on Google books)
A translation of Carl Linnaeus’s introduction to Genera Plantarum (1737)

[Stafleu,_p._102-1] Stafleu, p. 102.

[2] Stearn in Blunt, p. 107.

[3] Stearn, 1986 p. 339.

[4] Stafleu, p. 74.

[s-5] Stafleu, p. 91.

[6] Stafleu, p. 93.

[7] Stafleu, p. 12.

[8] Stafleu, p. 16.

[9] Stearn 1971, p. 246.

[10] Stearn, 1960 p. x.

[11] Stafleu, p. 103.

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Institutions	Jardin des Plantes Natural History Museum, London Orto botanico di Padova Orto botanico di Pisa Rothamsted Research Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Publications	Historia Plantarum and Causes of Plants of Theophrastus c. 300 BC De Plantis of Nicolaus of Damascus c. 1st century BC De Materia Medica of Dioscorides c. 60 AD Naturalis Historia 77–79 AD De Vegetabilibus of Albertus Magnus c. 1256 Herbarum Vivae Icones 1530 Libellus De Re Herbaria Novus 1538 Kreütterbuch of Hieronymus Bock 1539 De plantis libri XVI of Caesalpino 1583 Stirpium Historiae 1583 Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes 1597 Prodromus Theatrici Botanici 1620 Pinax theatri botanici 1623 Anatome Plantarum 1675 Anatomy of Plants 1682 Historia Plantarum of John Ray 1686–1704 De Sexu Plantarum Epistola 1694 Éléments de botanique 1694 Vegetable Staticks 1727 Systema Naturae 1735 Genera Plantarum 1737 Philosophia Botanica 1751 Species Plantarum 1753 Systema Naturae, 10th ed. 1758–59 Familles des Plantes 1763–64 Experiments Upon Vegetables 1779 Die Metamorphose der Pflantzen 1790 Traité d'Anatomie et de Physiologie Végétale 1802 Recherches Chimiques sur la Végétation 1804 Beyträge zur Anatomie der Pflanzen 1812 Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 1824–1873 Nepenthaceae Die Vegetabilische Zelle 1851 Vergleichende Untersuchungen 1851 On the Origin of Species 1859 Experiments on Plant Hybridization 1865 Die Vegetation der Erde 1872 Plantesamfund 1895 Pflanzengeographie auf Physiologischer Grundlage 1898 Variation and Evolution in Plants 1950 Ontogeny and Phylogeny 1977 An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants 1981
Theories and concepts	Alternation of generations Cell theory Center of diversity Phylogenetic nomenclature Spontaneous generation Taxonomy Ultrastructure
Influential figures	Theophrastus c. 371–287 BC Pliny the Elder 23–79 AD Pedanius Dioscorides c. 40–90 AD Otto Brunfels 1464–1534 Hieronymus Bock 1498–1554 Valerius Cordus 1515–1544 William Turner 1515–1568 Rembert Dodoens 1517–1585 Andrea Cesalpino 1519–1603 Cristóbal Acosta 1525–1594 Gaspard Bauhin 1560–1624 Joachim Jungius 1587–1657 John Ray 1623–1705 Nehemiah Grew 1628–1711 Marcello Malpighi 1628–1694 Joseph Pitton de Tournefort 1656–1708 Rudolf Jakob Camerarius 1665–1721 Stephen Hales 1677–1761 Bernard de Jussieu 1699–1777 Carolus Linnaeus 1707–1778 Michel Adanson 1727–1806 Jan Ingenhousz 1730–1799 José Celestino Mutis 1732–1808 Félix de Azara 1742–1821 Joseph Banks 1743–1820 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832 Carl Ludwig Willdenow 1765–1812 Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure 1767–1845 Alexander von Humboldt 1769–1859 Aimé Bonpland 1773–1858 Thomas Nuttall 1786–1859 Joakim Frederik Schouw 1789–1852 Matthias Jakob Schleiden 1804–1881 Alexander Braun 1805–1877 George Engelmann 1809–1884 Asa Gray 1810–1888 August Grisebach 1814–1879 Joseph Hooker 1817–1911 Gregor Mendel 1822–1884 Nathanael Pringsheim 1823–1894 Wilhelm Hofmeister 1824–1877 Julius von Sachs 1832–1897 Eugenius Warming 1841–1924 William Gilson Farlow 1844–1919 Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper 1856–1901 Nikolai Vavilov 1887–1943 Barbara McClintock 1902–1992 G. Ledyard Stebbins 1906–2000 Eugene Odum 1913–2002 Arthur Cronquist 1919–1992
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