which indicate the distinguishing features of the species 
but are inconvenient to write and almost impossible to 
remember. In the index these are listed as Orchis 725 
militaris and Orchis 727 longicalcar, the number referring 
to the numbered entry with diagnostic details in Linn- 
aeus’s Hlora Suecica (1745). The generic name and the 
added single epithet were easy to remember; the num- 
ber took the place of the long descriptive phrase by serv- 
ing as a concise reference to one in a standard work. 
These names thus provide an intermediate stage between 
the polynomial nomenclature of Linnaeus’s Flora Sue- 
cica (1745) and the binomial nomenclature of his Species 
Plantarum (17538), where, for example, the two species 
mentioned above are simply designated Orchis militaris 
and Orchis conopsea; the last species, however, has long 
been removed from Orc/is and is now known as Gym- 
nadenia conopsea. Apart, therefore, from its interest as 
an 18th-century travel book replete with first hand ob- 
servations on local customs and superstitions—plants, 
animals, minerals, quarrying, household remedies, ver- 
nacular names, runic inscriptions and much else— Linn- 
acus’s Oland and Gotland Journey 1741 is an important 
work in the history of biology. 
Orchids for Linnaeus were only a small part of the 
Vegetable Kingdom which he had set himself the daunt- 
ing task of classifying and naming. He accomplished this 
in his Species Plantarum (1758) and the associated fitth 
edition (1754) of his Genera Plantarum. Contrary to 
common belief, the introduction of consistent binomial 
nomenclature for species, i.e. the designation of each one 
by a two-word name, e.g. Orchis ustulata, consisting of 
the generic name, e.g. Orchis, followed a single specific 
epithet, e.g. wstu/ata, was not the primary intent of the 
Species Plantarum, although this nomenclatural innova- 
tion has given it outstanding importance. The addition 
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