THE LINNJ3A 249 



Swedish naturalist, Linnaeus (1707-1778), the Father 

 of Botany. Linnaeus invented the system, now 

 universally adopted, of giving two Latin names to 

 each animal and plant, the one generic and the other 

 specific, in order to distinguish them from one 

 another. He also laid the foundations of the present 

 system of classification of both animals and plants, 

 and thus practically called the sciences of Botany and 

 Zoology into being. 



The Linnaea, which is a common plant in 

 Scandinavia, was well known to Linnaeus, with 

 whom it was a particular favourite. He specially 

 selected this plant to bear his name, and although 

 the term Linncea borealis was first recorded by 

 Gronovius by the wish and consent of Linnaeus, it 

 was the latter who first pointed out its true affinities. 

 A spray of Linncea will be found engraved on nearly 

 all portraits of the great northern naturalist, and he 

 himself adopted it as his crest. 



There is only a single species of this plant in 

 existence, but it is very widely distributed. It is 

 abundant in Scandinavia and the Arctic regions. It 

 is found throughout the whole Alpine chain of 

 Central Europe, and also in the mountains of Asia 

 and North America. It even occurs in a few localities 

 in England and Scotland, as one of our rarer British 

 plants. 



The Linnaea is a little creeping or trailing shrubby 

 plant, a foot or more in length (Plate XLV.). It 

 frequently grows on flat-topped rocks, and is fond of 



