What is a Scientific Name?
When scientists discover a new plant or animal they give it a name. In fact, scientists give each plant or animal, two names. This naming system was developed by a famous biologist called Carolus Linnaeus.
The first name, called the genus, indicates that the plant or animal is closely related to others with the same name. For example, oak trees belong to the genus Quercus. The black oak, white oak and red oak all belong to the genus Quercus. What other trees do you know belong to the genus Quercus?
The second name that scientists give to plants and animals is called the species. This name separates the white oaks from the red oaks and the red oaks from the willow oaks. Here are the common and scientific names for these three oak trees:
| Common name | Scientific name |
| Black oak | Quercus velutina |
| White oak | Quercus alba |
| Red oak | Quercus rubra |
Common names may vary from one place to another. Scientific names do not. For example, the red oak is sometimes called the northern red oak, sometimes just red oak. In science it is always called Quercus rubra.
The genus name always starts with a capital letter and the species name with a lower case letter.
For example: Dogs and wolves belong to the genus Canis. Your pet cat belongs to the genus Felis, pumas to the genus Puma and jaguars, lions and leopards belong to the genus Panthera.
Here are some scientific names of these animals:
| Common name | Scientific name |
| Domestic dog | Canis familiaris |
| Puma | Puma concolor |
| Jaguar | Panthera onca |
| Lion | Panthera leo |
| Leopard | Panthera pardus |
Things to do
Go to the Missouri Botanical Garden and see if you find the common names and scientific names of plants. See if you can find some that belong to the same genus. Do these plants look like each other? Can you see why the scientists, called botanists, may have placed them in the same genus?
Go to the Saint Louis Zoo and see if you find the common names and scientific names of animals. See if you can find some that belong to the same genus. Do these animals look like each other? Can you see why scientists, called zoologists, may have placed them in the same genus?
Carolus Linnaeus
The scientific system of naming living things was developed by a famous biologist who lived in Sweden from 1707-1778. He wanted to give all the plants and animals on earth a scientific name. He sent his students and helpers all over the world seeking new plants and animals to name. While he did name many of these plants and animals and while we still use his names today, he did not succeed in naming all plants and animals. In fact, we still have not been able to do this. We now have scientific names for about 1 to 2 million plants and animals. Scientists believe that there may be as many as 30 million species on earth so we still have a lot of work to do.