So, naturalists observe, a flea on ill to bite ’em;And so proceed ad infinitum.

    All tion needed to be filed, ordered, and compared  was known.

    te for a em of classification. Fortunately tood ready to provide it.

    er co tocraticvonLinné), but inized form Carolus Linnaeus.  in sout ambitious Lute, and  t ed faticed s, nearly apprenticed o a cobbler. Appalled at t of spending alifetime banging tacks into leated, and er inction. udied medicine inSill inies, o produce catalogues of t and animal species, using asystem of his own devising, and gradually his fame grew.

    Rarely able ness.  mucime penning long and flattering portraits of  ter botanist or zoologist,” and t em of classification estac in tly ed t one sion Princeps Botanicorum, “Prince of Botanists.” It o question s. t to find terthem.

    Linnaeus’s otriking quality  times, one migion icularly struck by ty betain bivalvesand to ts of one species of clam s by ture of tive organs andendoingly antions of floo “promiscuous intercourse,” “barren concubines,”

    and “te in one oft-quoted passage:

    Love comes even to ts. Males and females . . . ials . . .

    she flowers’

    leaves serve as a bridal bed,  scents t t te tials er solemnity. ime for to embrace o her.

    s Clitoria. Not surprisingly, many people t range.

    But em of classification ible. Before Linnaeus, plants  ive. toserratis. Linnaeus lopped it back to Pa, ill uses. t enciesof naming. A botanist could not be s