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    Carl Linnaeus developed a new way of classifying plants in 1729 by counting their stamens and pistils and assigning them to 24 classes. He drew parallels between plant and human sexuality, referring to stamens as male and pistils as female, and calling parts of flowers testicles, vulvas, and vaginas. When his book Systema Naturae was published in 1735 establishing this binomial nomenclature for naming species, it caused some controversy but spread his ideas worldwide and elevated his fame.

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    Carl Linnaeus developed a new way of classifying plants in 1729 by counting their stamens and pistils and assigning them to 24 classes. He drew parallels between plant and human sexuality, referring to stamens as male and pistils as female, and calling parts of flowers testicles, vulvas, and vaginas. When his book Systema Naturae was published in 1735 establishing this binomial nomenclature for naming species, it caused some controversy but spread his ideas worldwide and elevated his fame.

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    Carl Linnaeus developed a new way of classifying plants in 1729 by counting their stamens and pistils and assigning them to 24 classes. He drew parallels between plant and human sexuality, referring to stamens as male and pistils as female, and calling parts of flowers testicles, vulvas, and vaginas. When his book Systema Naturae was published in 1735 establishing this binomial nomenclature for naming species, it caused some controversy but spread his ideas worldwide and elevated his fame.

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    Eng Exhibitiontexts

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    Fat Cat
    Carl Linnaeus developed a new way of classifying plants in 1729 by counting their stamens and pistils and assigning them to 24 classes. He drew parallels between plant and human sexuality, referring to stamens as male and pistils as female, and calling parts of flowers testicles, vulvas, and vaginas. When his book Systema Naturae was published in 1735 establishing this binomial nomenclature for naming species, it caused some controversy but spread his ideas worldwide and elevated his fame.

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    HERBARIUM�AMORIS

    a tribute to Carl Linnaeus

    Nuptiis et sexu plantarum


    – the nuptials and sex of plants

    At the end of 1729, Carl von Linné was sitting in his chambers, writing a critique of the prevailing
    superstitions in biology. He describes the sexuality of plants, and has an idea which will crystallise
    in a whole new way of classifying plantlife. He counts the stamens and pistils and classifies them
    accordingly. He’s already studied hundreds of plants, so he knows.

    He arranged the plants in 24 classes, according to their number of stamens and pistils. The stamens
    are the male in the marriage, the pistils the female. Class 1 – Monandria – “A man in the marriage”,
    Diandria – “Two men in the same marriage”, and so on to class XIII – Polyandria – “Twenty men
    or more in the same bridal chamber with one and the same woman”.

    “The calyx is the bridal bed where the stamen and pedicularis engage in union. The strands are the
    sperm tubes, the pistil stylet the mother passage or vagina, the plant ovary the human female ovary,
    the seed capsules the mature human ovary, and the seed the egg.”

    Linnaeus’ aim in drawing parallels between the sexuality of plants and humans
    may have been to explain more clearly how nature worked by means of imagery.
    In his book about plant ‘foreplay’, Praeludia Sponsaliorum Plantarum, he describes the various
    parts of the flowers. He calls the anthers testicles, the stigma the vulva and the stylet of the pistil the
    vagina. As we have seen, he gives the plant ovary the same name as the woman’s ovary. The plants’
    womb is the earth.

    When Systema Naturae was published in 1735, it took just a few months for Linnaeus to become
    famous throughout the world. His ideas concerning the sexuality of plants caused some alarm, but
    people were also titillated by them. He was accused of leading young people astray with his accounts
    of the plants’ love life. This, however, simply added to his reputation.

    ----

    Carl Linnaeus was born 1707 in Råshult in the southern Swedish province of Småland. His most
    valuable contribution to botany was the method he developed for identifying and recording flora
    and fauna. He is best known, however, for the binomial nomenclature he introduced, giving all
    plants and animals two names – a generic (family) name and a name for the species. During his
    lifetime, he named some 7,700 plants and 4,400 animals.

    Linnaeus completed his medical degree at the Dutch university of Harderwijk in 1735. This marked
    the beginning of a journey that took him to Germany, the Netherlands, Britain and France to meet
    the great botanical scholars of the time.
    He established important contacts during this period and was able to develop his ideas and publish
    a number of books. His reputation grew, and he soon took his place among the leading botanists of
    the day.
    Although famous outside Sweden, Linnaeus was virtually unknown in his own country on his
    return there in 1738. He earned his keep by working as a physician in Stockholm, but was
    eventually awarded a post as a professor of botany at Uppsala University.

    Linnaeus undertook a number of journeys through Sweden. His accounts of these travels were
    published in book form and greatly enhanced people’s knowledge about Swedish nature. A five-
    month trip to Lapland in particular attracted much attention, especially abroad, where almost
    nothing was known in the 18th century about the northernmost parts of Europe.

    With the advent of Linnaeus’ sexual system of classification, it now became possible to record
    plants. This inspired a number of young Swedish botanists to travel out into the world to collect
    unfamiliar species. Linnaeus himself called them his ‘apostles’, and they contributed greatly to the
    spread of his system.

    Carl Linnaeus died 1778 in Uppsala.

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