Another Byt of Linnaeus

I introduced Linnaeus to the blog on his birthday, but I just can't be finished with him. His sexual system for organizing plants seems strangely sexist - the first slice at organization is based on stamens, the male parts. That isn't totally because science in the mid-1700's was a man's world, but there is a touch of that. Botanists always knew where seed were formed, and I guess the pistil and ovary had been given female associations. But Vaillant, in his 1717 lecture on the structure of flowers, was adamant about the noble role of pollen. Previously denegrated as worthless it was elevated by the new understanding that pollen is the male, it provides the sperm that brings life to an otherwise sterile egg. Linnaeus had grown up scientifically on Vaillant's lecture, and was charged up with the idea that anthers produce sperm for sexual reproduction. Now there were guys involved - the stamens - a new concept that seemed to stir the loins.

Anthers are so easily visible in flowers, and can usually be deciphered without slicing and dicing the parts. So given the new-found male pride in these now noble parts, no surprise that Linnaeus's system separates flowers based on the number and arrangement of stamens. And of course any ideological divisions bring artificial results, making for strange bedfellows. Any group of plants that has five stamens in their flowers will end up grouped together - regardless how very different they might be otherwise. And two plants that naturally should be grouped together would be pigeonholed in different places if one had five stamens and the other one ten.

Thumbing through Species Plantarum (1753), we can see some of the issues:
Class 1 - Monandria (One Stamen): Canna, Costus
Class 2 - Diandria (Two Stamens): Jasminum, Ligustrum, Olea, Syringa, Veronica, Justicia, Pinguicula, Verbena, Rosmarinus, Salvia, Piper
Class 3 - Triandria (Three Stamens): Ixia, Gladiolus, Commelina, Xyris, Cyperus, Scirpus, Saccharum, Panicum, Poa, Festuca, Arundo, Triticum, Eriocaulon
Class 4 - Tetrandria (Four Stamens): Leucadendron, Protea, Cephalanthus, Scabiosa, Houstonia, Galium, Buddleja, Plantago, Cornus, Trapa, Cuscuta, Ilex, Potamogeton
Class 5 - Pentadria (Five Stamens): Heliotropium, Myosotis, Cynoglossum, Pulmanaria, Borago, Echium, Primula, Azalea, Plumbago, Phlox, Convolvulus, Ipomoea, Campanula, Nicotiana, Physalis, Solanum, Ceanothus, Celastrus, Euonymus, Ribes, Hedera, Vitis, Vinca, Nerium, Asclepius, Chenopodium, Gentiana, Eryngium, Apium, Rhus, Viburnum, Turnera, Statice, Linum, Drosera, Crassula
Class 6 - Hexandria (Six Stamens): Bromelia, Tradescantia, Narcissus, Crinum, Amaryllis, Allium, Lilium, Tulipa, Ornithogalum, Asparagus, Hyacinthus, Aloe, Hemerocallis, Juncus, Oryza, Rumex, Trillium, Colchicum
Class 7 - Heptandria (Seven Stamens): Aesculus
Class 8 - Octandria (Eight Stamens): Tropaeolum, Rhexis, Oenothera, Gaura, Vaccinium, Erica, Daphne, Polygonum, Sapindus, Paris
Class 9 - Enneandria (Nine Stamens): Laurus, Rheum
Class 10 - Decandria (Ten Stamens): Sophora, Cassia, Schinus, Melastoma, Kalmia, Rhododendron, Arbutus, Clethra, Pyrola, Hydrangea, Saxifraga, Gypsophila, Saponarai, Dianthus, Silene, Lychnis, Oxalis, Phytolacca
Class 11 - Dodecandria (Twelve Stamens): Asarum, Rhizophora, Styrax, Portulaca, Euphorbia
Class 12 - Icosandria (Twenty Stamens): Cactus, Psidium, Myrtus, Prunus, Mesembryanthemum, Spiraea, Rosa, Rubus, Potentilla
Class 13 - Polyandria (Numerous Stamens): Papaver, Sarracenia, Clusia, Bombax, Bixa, Mimosa, Cistus, Delphinium, Nigella, Magnolia, Annona, Anemone, Ranunculus
Class 14 - Didynamia (Four Stamens in two pairs of different lengths): Ajuga, Teucrium, Nepeta, Lavandula, Stachys, Phlomis, Dracocephalum, Ocimum, Scutellaria, Pedicularis, Antirrhinum, Scrophularia, Digitalis, Bignonia, Lantana, Duranta, Acanthus, Vitex
Class 15 - Tetradynamia (Six stamens, two shorter than the other four): Draba, Iberis, Alyssum, Cardamine, Cheiranthus, Arabis, Brassica, Cleome
Class 16 - Monadelphia (Stamens bound together by their filaments): Hermannia, Geranium, Sida, Althea, Alcea, Malva, Gossypium, Hibiscus, Stewartia, Camellia
Class 17 - Diadelphia (Stamens bound by filaments, but into two bundles or sheaths): Fumaria, Polygala, Genista, Robinia, Pisum, Lathyrus, Vicia, Clitoria, Glycine, Astragalus, Trifolium, Lotus, Medicago
Class 18 - Polydelphia (Stamens bound by filaments into five bundles): Theobroma, Citrus, Hypericum
Class 19 - Syngenesia (Stamens united at the anthers): Tragopogon, Sonchus, Lactuca, Carduus, Eupatorium, Ageratum, Santolina, Artemisia, Gnaphalium, Erigeron, Senecio, Solidago, Inula, Achillea, Chrysanthemum, Helianthus, Rudbeckia, Centauria, Calendula, Osteospermum, Lobelia, Viola, Impatiens
Class 20 - Gynandria (Feminine males, Stamen combined with style and stigma): Orchis, Cypripedium, Epidendrum, Sisyrinchium, Nepenthes, Passiflora, Aristolochia, Pistia, Grewia, Arum, Arum, Dracontium, Calla, Pothos
Class 21 - Monoecia (Monoecious plants): Callitriche, Lemna, Typha, Carex, Ambrosia, Amaranthus, Quercus, Fagus, Platanus, Liquidambar, Pinus, Cupressus, Acalypha, Jatropha, Ricinus, Sterculia, Cucurbita
Class 22 - Dioecia (Dioecious plants): Najas, Salix, Myrica, Spinacia, Cannabis, Humulus, Smilax, Dioscorea, Populus, Carica, Juniperus, Taxus, Ruscus
Class 23 - Polygamia: Musa, Celtis, Andropogon, Acer, Begonia, Fraxinus, Diospyros, Nyssa, Panax, Ficus
Class 24 - Cryptogamia (Flowers not readily visible): Equisetum, Ophioglossum, Osmunda, Pteris, Blechnum, Asplenium, Polypodium, Adiantum, Lycopodium, Sphagnum, Polytrichum, Mnium, Bryum, Marchantia, Riccia, Anthoceros, Lichen, Ulva, Agaricus, Peziza

Wow! If you take a few minutes to read through the groupings, it is clear the system creates a lot of curious combinations. Many things work pretty well; the orchids are together, so are the mustards. The daisies (composites) are together, but they fall out, along with the lobelias, in their own funny group - plants that have stamens united at the anther. Since all of the composites have five stamens, they could have been placed in Pentandria, but almost certainly Linnaeus enjoyed this clever method of separating them from other plants that do not produce flowers in heads. It is also interesting that Linnaeus groups the gymnosperms in with the flowering plants; pines are right after the oaks. And he includes Ilex in Tetrandia, even though the other dioecious plants are in Dioecia. Clearly, Linnaeus took the license to split whatever hairs he needed to split to make things work out; the system was not without ambiguity.

But what a hoot. Just as an aspiring artist might paint in a gallery, copying a great master in order to discover the techniques involved in creating miraculous effects, we can use Linnaeus's system in order to step into his mind. It is a very orderly, personality-ridden place.