Question

What is the correct date of publication of “Species Plantarum” authored by Carolus Linnaeus?
A.1st May, 1753
B.1st January, 1935
C.1st January, 1856
D.1st May, 1858

Answer 1

Carolus Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist and zoologist who had formulated the binomial nomenclature, which is the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the Father of modern taxonomy.

Complete answer:
The book Species Plantarum by Carolus Linnaeus was published on 1st May 1753. It was the first book that classified plants by giving binomial names to them. Before the formulation of the binomial naming system plants were known by long polynomial names which were quite cumbersome to work with. Development of binomial names having only two words- the genus name and species name made it easier to work with plants. Species Plantarum dealt only with the diverse species names. The first edition of the book consisted of about five thousand names of plant species but today around 4 lakh different species of just flowering plants are known to us. In the book the species were arranged around thousand genera, being grouped into 24 classes which was in accordance to the Linnaeus’s sexual system of classification.

Hence, the correct answer is option (A)

Note: More editions of species Plantarum were published after the death of Carolus Linnaeus. Apart from this book he also published Genera Plantarum that dealt with the genus names of different plants and Philosophia Botanica that dealt with plant classification and nomenclature.