Question

The scientific name of banyan tree is written as Ficus benghalensis L. Which of the following statements is correct regarding this?
A. Letter L signifies Latin language
B. The name should be written reverse with benghalensis preceding Ficus
C. Letter L signifies the taxonomist Linnaeus
D. benghalensis is a generic name

Answer 1

All living species all over the world are having their own scientific names or taxonomic names mostly used by scientists, which are a method of giving each species a name, and this system is known as the binomial nomenclature.

Complete answer:
The binomial nomenclature system was invented by Carl Linnaeus, it is a biological system of organisms naming in which name consists of two components where the first term denotes genus (generic name) and second term denotes species (specific name) of the organism. Multiple names make it difficult to identify an organism globally and mark a track of the number of species, so it creates a lot of confusion. To get rid of this situation standard protocol came, according to this every organism would have a scientific name used to identify an organism. There are two international codes for naming protocol i.e. ICZN (International Code for Zoological Nomenclature) and ICBN (International Code for Biological Nomenclature).

There are some rules for the binomial nomenclature system:
-Scientific names of an organism are written in Latin i.e. in Italics.
-Scientific names consist of two words where the first word identifies the genus while the second word identifies species.
-When the name is handwritten they are underlined.
-The name of the genus starts with a capital letter whereas the name of the species starts with a small letter.
For example- The scientific name of the banyan tree is Ficus benghalensis L where Ficus denotes genus, benghalensis denotes species and after the biological name the name of taxonomist appears and it is written in abbreviated form. In this example, (L stands for Linnaeus) this banyan tree species was first described by Linnaeus.

Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: Because of the two-part scientific name it is coined as binomial nomenclature. Linnaeus proposed this nomenclature system and it is also published in his book Systema Naturae. These scientific names are typed in Italics to distinguish these names from the normal texts and this rule is followed in the binomial naming system.