BEGINNING OF MODERN CLASSIFICATION

by Jutta Buck

with Cynthia Rice

Illustrated treatises on natural science now began to appear regularly, reflecting the curiosity of naturalists, botanists and artists captivated by the discoveries made by explorers returning from overseas. In this connection, the Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), the founder of modern scientific classification, published his Genera Plantarum in 1737. It described plants in terms of their gender and species. In his lifetime, Linnaeus published more than 180 works and established a system of taxonomy which prevailed throughout the world for nearly three centuries.

Species Plantarum, 1st ed. 1753, Carolus Linnaeus

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