For many in the natural sciences, the publication of Carl Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum (1753) divides biology into two periods: one where the natural world was scientifically ordered, and a previous time that was overrun by competing provincial knowledge systems. This talk explores the period of chaos, by centring on the work of British naturalists to describe, name, and communicate the flora of their colonial territories in the early eighteenth century. While they failed to produce a universal system of classification, these botanists left behind a substantial legacy in the form of their natural science collections such as herbaria. Analysis of these specimens as archival material alongside scientific publications and manuscripts reveals that, in the time before Linnaeus, it was local names that provided much-needed referential stability, facilitated scientific communication, and shaped European collections and taxonomic systems.

Madeline White is a historian of science, environment, and the British Empire, and the postdoctoral research associate on the Digital Global Plants project at the University of Oxford. Her current project uses natural science collections to explore the efforts of British naturalists to create environmental knowledge through collection, cultivation, and classification. She completed her DPhil in 2024 at the Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. From January, she will be a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Program in Environmental Policy and Culture at Northwestern University.