Multiple Independent Inventions of a Non-Functional Technology: Combinatorial Descriptive Names in Botany, 1640-1830

Naturalia : the history of natural history and medicine in the seventeenth century

“…As Sara Scharf has explained, there were four levels in the hierarchy, 'genus, difference, species, and numerical position', and 'within each species, items were largely grouped into nines', with each species having a place in the table. 12 Each species could also be identified and located by both a numerical rotation and a word. As Japp Maat indicated, since 'beast' is the 18th genus on the list of genera, 'whole-footed' the 1st difference, and elephant the fourth species under that difference.…”