Linnaeus and Chinese plants: A test of the linguistic imperialism thesis

Abstract

It has been alleged that Carolus Linnaeus practised Eurocentrism, sexism and racism in naming plant genera after famous botanists, and excluding 'barbarous names'. He has therefore been said to practise 'linguistic imperialism'. This paper examines whether Linnaeus applied 'linguistic imperialism' to the naming of Chinese plants. On the basis of examples such as Thea (¼Camellia), Urena, Basella, Annona, Sapindus (¼Koelreuteria), and Panax, I conclude that Linnaeus used generic names of diverse origins. However, he misidentified Chinese plants' habitats, and acted on these misapprehensions.

Hong Kong’s mangrove biodiversity and its conservation within the context of a southern Chinese megalopolis. A review and a proposal for Lai Chi Wo to be designated as a World Heritage Site

“…Of these, six are Linnaean species (identified in blue) although one of them, Kandelia candel has been synomysed with K. obovata by Sheue et al (2003). That the remaining species are Linnaean taxa is interesting because they may well have been initially collected by the Swedish explorer and naturalist Pehr Osbeck (1723Osbeck ( -1805, who was an expedition's ship's chaplain and who, in 1771, spent four months around Canton (Guangzhou) and from where he collected >600 species of plants some of which were published in Linnaeus's Species Plantarum of 1753 (Osbeck 1771 (Cook 2010). Osbeck also, independently described 155 other plants growing in and around Canton (Bretschneider 1898(Bretschneider [1962).…”

Typifications of five Linnaean fern names based on Osbeck's specimens

“…Another specimen exist in S (S‐P‐2073) attributed to Osbeck, annotated as originating from India, but Osbeck never visited India and collected only from China (Osbeck , Cook ).…”

Use of phytoremediation for pollution removal of hexavalent chromium-contaminated acid agricultural soils

“…Malabar spinach belongs to the Basellaceae family (Deshmukh and Gaikwad, 2014). There are two taxonomic varieties: Basella rubra L. ve Basella alba L. They are differentiated by their leaf properties and stem color (Adhikari et al, 2012;Cook 2010;Deshmukh and Gaikwad, 2014;Ray and Roy, 2007). The origin of Malabar spinach is in India and Indonesia and can be naturally grown in tropical Asia (Saroj et al, 2012).…”