Plantae Selectae: No. 37 - Yucca
Georg Dionysius Ehret (German, 1708–1770)
published 1750–73
Medium
engraving, hand-colored
Dimensions
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Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Arnold M. Davis
Accession Number
1957.192
Tags
male
About this artwork
A major problem in horticulture was the lack of a consistent system of classification. The first successful attempt to establish a common nomenclature was in 1724 when 20 London nurserymen published a list of all plants grown in their nurseries. Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae was published in 1735; it classified 7,700 plants by their botanic structure and gave them universally applicable two-part Latin names. From then on artists had to combine scientific accuracy with artis...