Carl Linnaeus and Hortus Malabaricus: A 250th Anniversary Tribute to Species Plantarum

Abstract

Species Plantarum published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), which described all the then known plant species of the
world completes its 250" anniversary this year. Linnaeus propounded through this book an artificial sexual system of
classification of plants and binomial nomenclature; the former received wrath and criticism and the latter wide acclaim and
acceptance. One of the many books which Linnaeus confidently depended was Van Rheede’s Hortus Malabaricus, a 12-
volume treatise on the plant wealth of Malabar of India, published from Amsterdam during 1678-1693. As many as 255
Rheedean elements were used by Linnaeus for description. This paper is a glimpse at the work of Species Plantarum, Hortus
Malabaricus and Malayalam plant names cited in Species Plantarum from Hortus Malabaricus.