John Ray (1627–1705) produced a three-volume work titled Historia plantarum, published between 1686 and 1704, in which he classified 18,000 plant species. His method of classification, according to morphological characteristics, was the basis of a new system of botany and a natural classification of species. Indeed, the influence of Ray’s work on animal and plant species can be traced in the works of Linnaeus. His definition of “species” as a community capable of reproduction still provides the basis for a working definition of the word today, although the debate over an exact definition continues.
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Further Readings:
- Raven, Charles E. John Ray: Naturalist. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
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