Linnaeus, the Cortex-Medulla Theory, and the Key to His Understanding of Plant Form and Natural Relationships

Abstract

Linnaeus's ideas on the composition of the various parts of the plant and the generation of plant form by the interactions of these tissues both with each other and with the sap of the plant are outlined. Linnaeus used the analogy he drew between the vegetative plant and the larva of an insect to justify his emphasis on parts of the fructification in the classification of genera; as with insects, he used the adult, rather than the larva, in classification