The Linnaean system is used by biologists to classify species of organisms into nested categories. The system was invented by the Swedish botanist Karl Linne (Latinized to Carolus Linnaeus) in the 18th century. Prior to Linnaeus, the classification of organisms was in disarray.

First, each species was usually identified by long Latin descriptions. For example, the common ground cherry was called Physalis amno ramosissime ramis angulosis glabris foliis dentoserratis, which means, in part, that it had angled stems and the leaves were hairless and had toothed margins. Linnaeus shortened these long names to two-word names (in this case, Physalis angulata, a name it still uses). Thus Linnaeus established the practice of binomial nomenclature ("naming system that uses two names").

Second, the same species could be given different descriptive names by different botanists. Linnaeus standardized the names. Was Rosa sylvestris alba cum rubore, folio glabro the same as Rosa sylvestris inodora seu canina? Linnaeus standardized it to Rosa canina. Mistakes still happen, in which the same species is accidentally given two different names, but it is now much less common.

These innovations were accepted by the biological community with a sense of relief, but this was not the most important innovation of the Linnaean system. Before Linnaeus, there was no recognizable basis for classification. Some zoologists classified animals on the basis of terrestrial vs. aquatic, others on the basis of big vs. small. French paleontologist Georges Buffon organized animals according to their usefulness in the human economy.

Linnaeus brought order into this chaos. In classifying plants, Linnaeus recognized that reproductive characteristics were less variable than the characteristics of leaves and stems. He therefore classified plants on the basis of the numbers and condition of the stamens (male parts) and pistils (female parts) of their flowers. Consistent with the male bias of science and society, Linnaeus's major axis of classification was the number of stamens: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and many individual stamens; the grouping of the stamens (tetradidymous, dididymous, monadelphous, diadelphous, polyadelphous); the fusion of stamens to one another or to pistils; plants with separate male and female flowers on the same tree (monoecious) or different trees (dioecious) or a mixture of arrangements. His last class, the cryptogams (crypto- means hidden), consisted of plants that had no obvious flowers. Within the male axis, he divided plants on the basis of their female parts. He applied his system in a rigid fashion, resulting in classifications that are surprising to modern botanists. For example, he placed oaks, beeches, hazelnuts, and cattails into the same category; modern botanists recognize cattails as very different from the other three . . .

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