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Transcript
Carl, Kings, and Crème de Menthe Plant Taxonomy in Three Easy Pieces by Edward A. Munns, Jr. 1. Carl The binomial nomenclature of plants can be attributed to an eighteenth century Swedish botanist named Carl Linnaeus. His early medical studies and his attraction to natural history, especially botany, helped to form the basis of the universal plant naming scheme using Latin. Linnaeus was obsessed with order and categorizing elements especially in nature. He likened the different plants as if it were a society consisting of “Kingdoms, provinces, hundreds, districts and individual small holdings” (1). Linnaeus used sexual characteristics to break down plants into smaller elements. In 1741 he was named a professor of Medicine in Uppsala, Sweden and continued refining his work in listing and categorizing all things in Nature – both plant and animal. He was fortunate that world exploration was approaching a Golden Age and Swedish adventurers were attracted to his teachings. A host of plant pioneers dutifully collected and sent back new discoveries from Asia, North, and South America. In gratitude, Linnaeus honored their work by naming many plant genera after them. Travelers like Peter Kalm, Andreas Dahl, Olof Rudbeck, Carl Peter Thunberg (as well as Linnaeus himself) all now have a permanent place in our flora nomenclature: dahlia; rudbeckia; thunbergia; Kalmia. 2. Kings The binomial nomenclature classification system that Carl Linnaeus developed begins at the top with Kingdom, just like the society in which he lived. Today we recognize the animal Kingdom and the plant Kingdom as the two branches of living things (although some scientists have trouble cataloging some single celled organisms and other beings located near geyser vents in mid-ocean). Kingdom plantae is further divided into smaller categories as follows: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. The most commonly referred to divisions in horticulture, however, are family, genus and species. Genus is always capitalized and italicized; species is always italicized. Varieties and cultivars appear at the end after the abbreviation “var.” or “cv.” Learning the full name of a plant from Kingdom to species can be difficult if it weren’t for a famous mnemonic that all students of horticulture should know: KINGS PLAY CHESS ON FINE GREEN SLATE. Just match up the first letter of this sentence with the categories of Kingdom plantae. 3. Crème de Menthe What could be finer than having a scoop of French vanilla ice cream splashed with an ounce of crème de menthe? This dessert combines the essence of two plants, vanilla and mint. The hand-pollinated vanilla orchid produces a seed pod that is prepared by drying and soaking in a solution that extracts the essence that we know as vanilla flavor. The crème de menthe is produced in a process where the oils from the mint plant leaves are extracted and infused with an alcohol base. What a wonderful blend of flavors from two different families of plants. The full name of the mint is: Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Lamiaceae Genus: Mentha [Linnaeus] Species: aquatica The genus Mentha was personally named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 and thus his name is memorialized in full or abbreviated [L.] in scientific publications. I wonder if Carl Linnaeus enjoyed his bowl of vanilla ice cream after having named the topping? Resources 1. Carl Linnaeus, pamphlet by Gunnar Broberg. Swedish Institute Press, 1999. 2. The Constant Gardener, article by Emily Hiestand. Atlantic Magazine, March 2007. 3. Personal visit to Swedish Embassy to view “Men Around Linnaeus: Botanical Watercolors by Annika Silander-Hokerberg”, April 2003. 4. Botanical Latin 101, internet article by Fran Gustman for “Wild Ones Journal” June 12, 2005 5. Taxonomy of Mentha, internet download from Bay Science Foundation, Inc., Sept. 5, 2007.