(sometimes written with the
ligature æ) was one of the major works of the
Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician
Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the
Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as
binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers,
Gaspard and
Johann, 200 years earlier, Linnaeus was first to use it consistently throughout his book. The first edition was published in 1735. The full title of the 10th edition (1758), which was the most important one, was or translated: "System of nature through the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera and species, with characters, differences, synonyms, places".