Premium
AUGUSTIN AUGIER'S “ARBRE BOTANIQUE” (1801), A REMARKABLE EARLY BOTANICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE NATURAL SYSTEM
Author(s) -
Stevens P. F.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
taxon
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.819
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1996-8175
pISSN - 0040-0262
DOI - 10.2307/1221972
Subject(s) - tree (set theory) , analogy , natural (archaeology) , geography , epistemology , philosophy , mathematics , archaeology , combinatorics
Summary Augustin Augier, an obscure scientist from Lyon, published in 1801 a detailed “Arbre botanique,” a tree‐like diagram that depicted the natural relationships he believed to exist among members of the plant kingdom. He attempted to produce a natural classification based on several parts of the flower, rather than on a single one, that would also function like a key. The botanical tree was the result, and Augier described in considerable detail the methodology that he used to produce this tree, a way of representing natural relationships distinctly uncommon at the time. Augier used the botanical tree to distinguish between different kinds of relationships, two of which are similar to those currently called homology and analogy. It is suggested that Augier's botanical tree is an example in miniature of some of the major changes that were shortly to transform early ninteenth century systematics.