Binomial nomenclature

The system of naming the plants on a scientific basis is known as botanical  nomenclature.  Naming of the plants is useful in assigning their identity and relationship. Before the middle of the eighteenth century, the names of plants were commonly polynomials i.e. they were composed of several words in series constituting more or less the description of the plant.   This can be illustrated with the example of Caryophyllum.   The name given was Caryophyllum saxatilis folis gramineus umbellatis corymbis meaning Caryophyllum growing on rocks, having grass like leaves with umbellate corymbose inflorescence.

Since lengthy names are difficult to remember and use, attempts were made to shorten these names.  Carolus  Linnaeus  suggested a system of binomial nomenclature.  Although the binomial system was introduced by Gaspard Bauhin  as early as 1623, it had properly been made use by Linnaeus in his book Species Plantarum.

In binomial nomenclature, every species is given a name of two words. For example, the binomial nomenclature of mango tree is Mangifera indica. Here the first word Mangifera refers to the genus and the second word indica to the species.  The two words in combination comprise the name of the plant.  Thus the binomial is a binary name.  Hence, from the days of Linnaeus, two different kinds of plants could not have the same generic and specific names.