# Species Plantarum names plants from colonial plantations without the labourers who grew them

Date: 1753

## The fact

On 1 May 1753 Species Plantarum printed two-word names for plants that had arrived through colonial gardens and plantations whose field labourers, often enslaved or coerced, do not appear as authors. [Linnaeus](/people/carl-linnaeus) sat in Uppsala. The labour sat elsewhere.

## Context

Clifford’s stove, Dutch herbaria, and [apostle](/people/paul-the-apostle) parcels were the pipes. A binomial is easy to copy; a labourer’s name was not asked. Sharing with Banks, Solander, and Clifford is required on neighbouring rows. Later ICN author-citations still point at Linnaeus, not at the field.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

## Evidence and sources

BHL at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/13829 is the public 1753 text whose author citations are European. Uppsala University at https://www.uu.se/en/news/2021/2021-05-07-linnaeus-complicated-relationship-with-racism independently flags colonialism as part of the Linnaean problem, not as later misuse only.

Official or archival record: Species Plantarum (1753) — Biodiversity Heritage Library (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/13829; Biodiversity Heritage Library).

## Significance

Labour path of modest-to-mid weight, medium confidence on any one unnamed person, high on the credit pattern. Binomial access remains the split improving row.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Mixed effects of Species Plantarum names plants from colonial plantations without the labourers who grew them are separate paths.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Species Plantarum names plants from colonial pipelines without field labourers as authors. Not established: a unique headcount of enslaved growers for 1753 entries. Contribution is recorded as He printed the names. Apostles, VOC, and plantation systems supplied plants grown by unnamed labour, including enslaved labour. Complex. The impact note is A world flora that cites European collectors and erases field labour is a labour-credit path, split from binomial access. The dated heading stays Species Plantarum names plants from colonial plantations without the labourers who grew them on 1753-05-01, not a later statue, UNESCO listing, or school film. Printers, unnamed clerks, and later editors may appear in the same file without becoming this instrument. Later competitions, monuments, and adaptations are refused as extra lifetime acts of this person on this date.

Shared responsibility is part of Species Plantarum names plants from colonial plantations without the labourers who grew them. Naming Carl Linnaeus does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1753-05-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

The attached driver is [labour-market-tightness](/drivers/labour-market-tightness). The welfare reading used in this dossier is worsening. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

## People

- Carl Linnaeus: https://factrail.ai/people/carl-linnaeus

## Drivers

- Labour-Market Tightness: https://factrail.ai/drivers/labour-market-tightness

## Sources

- https://www.uu.se/en/news/2021/2021-05-07-linnaeus-complicated-relationship-with-racism
- https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/13829

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/linnaeus-plantation-names-1753