Naming and Classifying Fungi

Abstract

As with other living organisms, the name applied to any fungus is a binomial, a capitalised genus name followed by a lower case species name, both written in italics or underlined. The classification of organisms in genera and species was a concept introduced by Linneaus in 1753 and it is the keystone of biological science. It is as fundamental to the biologist as Arabic decimal numeration is to the mathematician. Here the analogy ends: the concept of “base 10” is rigorous; the concept of a species, fundamental as it is, is subjective and dependent on the knowledge and concepts of the biologist who described it.