 Pre-Linnaean Taxonomy

- Earliest Taxonomy
- the Greeks and Romans
- the Herbalists
- Early Taxonomists

• Linnaean Era
-starting point of modern
Taxonomy
-transforming Botany & Zoology
into a Science
 Post-Linnaean Taxonomy
- natural system emerging in
France
- Rules for Nomenclature
- from Phenetics to
Phylogenies
- the Phylocode
 Folk Taxonomy

 Earliest traces of taxonomy were

Eastern
-known to the Western world only
during the Middle Ages

-earliest pharmacopoeias was written

by Shen Nung, Emperor of China around
3,000 BC
 Known as the Father
of Chinese medicine
 Believed to have
introduced
acupuncture
 Wants to educate his
people in agriculture
& medicine
- have test many
herbs for medicinal
value
The pharmacopoeia of Nung
“Divine Husbandman’s
Materia
Medica” included 365
medicines derived from
minerals, plants, & animals
 1500 BC , medicinal plants were
illustrated on wall paintings in
Egypt
—gives us knowledge about
medicinal plants in old Egypt &
their names
The first to
classify all living
things,
specifically on
animals (like the
vertebrates &
invertebrates)
A student of
Aristotle & Plato

Wrote a
classification of
all known plants,
De Historia
Plantarum, 480
species
- based on
growth form
He wrote De
Materia Medica
- 600 species; was
used in medicine
until 16th century

 his classifications
was based on the
medicinal
properties of the
species
His book
Naturalis Historia
- described
plants & gave
them Latin
names
The Father of
Botanical Latin
called “the first
Taxonomist”
- he wrote De
Plantis in 1583,
1500 species
- his
classifications
was based on
growth habit
together with fruit
& seed form
- wrote Pinax Theatri
Botanici in
1623, 6000
species
-they included
synonymes
-recognized
genera & species
as major
taxonomic levels
Established species
as the ultimate unit of
taxonomy
 He published
Methodus Plantarum
Nova in 1682,
18000 plant
species
 His classifications
was based on many
combined characters
 Constructed a
botanical classification
w/c became a rule in
his time
Published Institutiones
Rel Herbariae, 9000
species
 Put emphasis on the
classification of
genera
 His classification was
based on floral
characters
Carolus Linnaeus
 His 2 important works:
-global flora
Species Plantarum,
1753
-10th ed. of Systema
Naturae, 1758 w/c
includes global fauna

•Counted 8530 species

of flowering plants in
1753
Stated his career in 1735 by publishing
a system of all living things &
minerals called Systema Naturae

- introduced sexual system of

plants, an artificial classification
based on the sexual parts of the
flower, stamens & pistils

• Published several books that

would transform botany & zoology
into a science
Published Critica botanica in 1735 with
rules for the formulation of generic names

 In the same year, published Genera

Plantarum with the list of all known genera

 Fundamenta botanica in 1736 & Philosophia

botanica in 1751 he created rules for
species descriptions, terminology, & even
instructions on how to build a proper
herbarium

 corolla,
stamen, filament & anther,
Mammalia
 (Four French Scientists)
Georges-Luise Leclerc de Buffon
 His approach was to
describe the world
rather than to
classify it
 His theories touched
upon development of
species, infraspecific
variety, & acquired
inherited characters
in species
wrote Familles des
Plantes in 1763

Gave the idea that in

classification one
should not put greater
emphasis on some
characters than on
others, but use a
great range of
characters
Changed the system of
plants w/ his Genera
Plantarum in 1789
- a natural system
based on many
characters; became the
foundation of modern
classification
• divided plants into
acotyledons,
monocotyledons, &
dicotyledons
Launched an
evolutionary theory
including inheritance
of acquired
characters, named
the “Lamarckism”
French scientific works, the
development of anatomy &
physiology, and improved optical
instruments made way for the new
era of Taxonomy

- trying to cope with an

increasing number of species in a
rapidly expanding flora & fauna of the
world
 From the lectures of Mariette Manktelow, Dept of
Systematic Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre,
Uppsala University