Fundamenta Botanica

Fundamenta Botanica ("Foundations of botany") (Amsterdam, Salomon Schouten, ed. 1, 1736) was one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and issued both as a separate work and as part of the Bibliotheca Botanica.^[1]

Publication and reprints

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This book states, for the first time, Linnaeus's ideas for the reformation of botanical taxonomy. The first edition is dated 1736 but it was released on 14 September 1735 (Linnaeus wrote in his personal copy "Typus absolutus 1735, Sept 3".).^[2] The full title was Fundamenta Botanica, quae Majorum Operum Prodromi instar Theoriam Scientiae Botanices by breves Aphorismos tradunt.

The first edition was dedicated to Olof Rudbeck, Lorenz Heister, Adriaan van Royen, Johann Jacob Dillen, Antoine de Jussieu, Giulio Pontedera, Johann Amman, Johannes Burman, Pierre Magnol and Giuseppe Monti.

A second edition was published in Stockholm in 1740 and a third in Amsterdam in 1741. The publication of this work as well as Genera Plantarum and Systema Naturae was encouraged by Herman Boerhaave, who had been Linnaeus's teacher.

Impact

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The Fundamenta in combination with the Critica Botanica lays Linnaeus's foundations for his system of nomenclature, classification and botanical terminology that were later reviewed and expanded in the Philosophia Botanica (1751). He does this by means of 365 aphorisms (principles) arranged into 12 chapters:

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VIRIS NOBILISSIMIS (Dedication to men to honor)
BOTANICIS CELEBERRIMIS (Dedication to famous botanists)
PRAEFATIO (Preface)

FUNDAMENTA BOTANICA (Botanical fundamentals or fundamental botanical aphorisms)

I. BIBLIOTHECA (library), Aphorismen : articles 1-52 (page 1-5)

II. SYSTEMATA (systematics) : articles 53–77 (pages 5-7)

III. PLANTAE (plants) : articles 78–85 (pages 7-9)

IV. FRUCTIFICATIO (fruit carrier) : articles 86–131 (pages 10-15)

V. SEXUS (sex) : articles 132–150 (pages 15-17)

VI. CHARACTERES (characterisation) : articles 151–209 (pages 18-22)

VII. NOMINA (nouns or names) : articles 210–255 (pages 23-26)

VIII. DIFFERENTIAE (distinction) : articles 256–305 (pages 26-29)

IX. VARIATIONES (Varieties) : articles 306–317 (pages 30-31)

X. SYNONYMA (synonyms) : articles 318–324 (pages 31-31)

XI. ADUMBRATIONES (description) : articles 325–335 (pages 31-32)

XII. VIRES (forces) : articles 336–365 (pages 33-35)

CONCLUSIONES EX DICTIS (Conclusion from the foregoing) I-XII (page 36)

Bibliographic details

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Full bibliographic details including exact dates of publication, pagination, editions, facsimiles, brief outline of contents, location of copies, secondary sources, translations, reprints, manuscripts, travelogues, and commentaries are given in Stafleu and Cowan's Taxonomic Literature.^[3]

References

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^ A full scan of ed. 1 of Fundamenta Botanica
^ Stafleu, Frans A. 1971. Linnaeus and the Linnaeans: the Spreading of their Ideas in Systematic Botany, 1735–1789. Utrecht: International Association for Plant Taxonomy. ISBN 90-6046-064-2. p. 29.
^ Stafleu & Cowan, p. 75.

Bibliography

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Stafleu, Frans A. & Cowan, Richard S. 1981. "Taxonomic Literature. A Selective Guide to Botanical Publications with dates, Commentaries and Types. Vol III: Lh–O." Regnum Vegetabile 105.

v t e Carl Linnaeus
Published works	Linnaeus bibliography Systema Naturae (1735) Fundamenta Botanica (1736) Bibliotheca Botanica (1736) Musa Cliffortiana (1736) Critica Botanica (1737) Flora Lapponica (1737) Genera Plantarum (1737) Hortus Cliffortianus (1737) Classes Plantarum (1738) Flora Svecica (1745) Fauna Svecica (1746) Philosophia Botanica (1751) Species Plantarum (1753) Centuria Insectorum (1763) Mantissa Plantarum Altera (1771) Systema Vegetabilium (1774)
General	Taxonomy (biology) Linnaean Herbarium Linnaean taxonomy (Linnaean classification) Botanical nomenclature Zoological nomenclature Binomial nomenclature Taxa named by Linnaeus Natural history History of biology History of botany Scientific racism
Apostles of Linnaeus	Adam Afzelius Andreas Berlin Johan Peter Falk Peter Forsskål Pehr Kalm Pehr Löfling Pehr Osbeck Daniel Rolander Göran Rothman Daniel Solander Anders Sparrman Carl Peter Thunberg
Related people	Family (Carl Linnaeus the Younger (son) Elisabeth Christina von Linné (daughter)) Students of Linnaeus Gaspard Bauhin Johann Bauhin Peter Artedi Herman Boerhaave Johannes Burman George Clifford III
Recognitions	Expedition Linné Linnaea Linnaean Garden (including the Linnaeus Museum) Linnaeite Linnaemya Linnaemyini 7412 Linnaeus Linnaeus Arboretum Linnaeus University Linnaeus's Hammarby Linné (crater) Linnéa Linnean Medal Linnean Society of London Swedish Linnaeus Society Linnean Society of New South Wales Linnean Tercentenary Medal Linneus, Maine Linneus, Missouri
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v t e History of botany
Fields and disciplines	Agriculture Biogeography Bryology Cladistics Comparative anatomy Cytology Economic botany Ethnobotany Floristics Forestry Genetic engineering Horticulture Lichenology Molecular phylogenetics Mycology Natural history Numerical taxonomy Paleobotany Palynology Phycology Phytochemistry Phytogeography Plant anatomy Plant ecology Plant genetics Plant morphology Plant pathology Plant physiology Pteridology
Institutions	Jardin des Plantes Natural History Museum, London Orto botanico di Padova Orto botanico di Pisa Rothamsted Research Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Publications	Historia Plantarum and Causes of Plants of Theophrastus c. 300 BC De Plantis of Nicolaus of Damascus c. 1st century BC De Materia Medica of Dioscorides c. 60 AD Naturalis Historia 77–79 AD De Vegetabilibus of Albertus Magnus c. 1256 Herbarum Vivae Icones 1530 Libellus De Re Herbaria Novus 1538 Kreütterbuch of Hieronymus Bock 1539 De plantis libri XVI of Caesalpino 1583 Stirpium Historiae 1583 Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes 1597 Prodromus Theatrici Botanici 1620 Pinax theatri botanici 1623 Anatome Plantarum 1675 Anatomy of Plants 1682 Historia Plantarum of John Ray 1686–1704 De Sexu Plantarum Epistola 1694 Éléments de botanique 1694 Vegetable Staticks 1727 Systema Naturae 1735 Genera Plantarum 1737 Philosophia Botanica 1751 Species Plantarum 1753 Systema Naturae, 10th ed. 1758–59 Familles des Plantes 1763–64 Experiments Upon Vegetables 1779 Die Metamorphose der Pflantzen 1790 Traité d'Anatomie et de Physiologie Végétale 1802 Recherches Chimiques sur la Végétation 1804 Beyträge zur Anatomie der Pflanzen 1812 Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis 1824–1873 Nepenthaceae Die Vegetabilische Zelle 1851 Vergleichende Untersuchungen 1851 On the Origin of Species 1859 Experiments on Plant Hybridization 1865 Die Vegetation der Erde 1872 Plantesamfund 1895 Pflanzengeographie auf Physiologischer Grundlage 1898 Variation and Evolution in Plants 1950 Ontogeny and Phylogeny 1977 An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants 1981
Theories and concepts	Alternation of generations Cell theory Center of diversity Phylogenetic nomenclature Spontaneous generation Taxonomy Ultrastructure
Influential figures	Theophrastus c. 371–287 BC Pliny the Elder 23–79 AD Pedanius Dioscorides c. 40–90 AD Otto Brunfels 1464–1534 Hieronymus Bock 1498–1554 Valerius Cordus 1515–1544 William Turner 1515–1568 Rembert Dodoens 1517–1585 Andrea Cesalpino 1519–1603 Cristóbal Acosta 1525–1594 Gaspard Bauhin 1560–1624 Joachim Jungius 1587–1657 John Ray 1623–1705 Nehemiah Grew 1628–1711 Marcello Malpighi 1628–1694 Joseph Pitton de Tournefort 1656–1708 Rudolf Jakob Camerarius 1665–1721 Stephen Hales 1677–1761 Bernard de Jussieu 1699–1777 Carolus Linnaeus 1707–1778 Michel Adanson 1727–1806 Jan Ingenhousz 1730–1799 José Celestino Mutis 1732–1808 Félix de Azara 1742–1821 Joseph Banks 1743–1820 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749–1832 Carl Ludwig Willdenow 1765–1812 Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure 1767–1845 Alexander von Humboldt 1769–1859 Aimé Bonpland 1773–1858 Thomas Nuttall 1786–1859 Joakim Frederik Schouw 1789–1852 Matthias Jakob Schleiden 1804–1881 Alexander Braun 1805–1877 George Engelmann 1809–1884 Asa Gray 1810–1888 August Grisebach 1814–1879 Joseph Hooker 1817–1911 Gregor Mendel 1822–1884 Nathanael Pringsheim 1823–1894 Wilhelm Hofmeister 1824–1877 Julius von Sachs 1832–1897 Eugenius Warming 1841–1924 William Gilson Farlow 1844–1919 Andreas Franz Wilhelm Schimper 1856–1901 Nikolai Vavilov 1887–1943 Barbara McClintock 1902–1992 G. Ledyard Stebbins 1906–2000 Eugene Odum 1913–2002 Arthur Cronquist 1919–1992
Related	Botanical garden Herbal Plant taxonomy History of plant systematics Systems of plant taxonomy Herbalism History of agricultural science History of agriculture History of biochemistry History of biology History of biotechnology History of ecology History of evolutionary thought History of genetics History of geology History of medicine History of molecular biology History of molecular evolution History of paleontology History of phycology History of science Natural philosophy Philosophy of biology Timeline of biology and organic chemistry
Category

Publication and reprints

Impact

Table of contents

Bibliographic details

References

Bibliography