Taxonomy_of_the_coffee_plant

Carl von Linné was the “father of modern taxonomy” as he introduced a strict and formalised way to classify
species according to the binomial nomenclature, which is still used today. Using this system, species were
named by giving a latin name composed of two parts, where the first part is the genus it belongs to and the
second is the specific epithet that identifies the species. This way of naming is the international code of
botanical nomenclature
For Arabica coffee the latin name is Coffea arabica, where Coffea depicts the genus name and arabica is
the epithet. At the end of the name comes the author, who was the first person that has described the
species. In case of Arabica it is L., abbreviated from Linné.
Using this binomial structure, the concept of grouping species in larger groups or taxa based on common
traits became possible. All plants are grouped in the taxon Kingdom Plantae, all seed plants in the Phylum
Magnoliaphyta and so on, always moving to units that contain fewer species. There are many taxa until we
arrive at the species level of coffee, e.g. Subphylum, Class, Subclass, Order, Family, Subfamiliy, Tribe and
Genus.
Genus is the smallest group and the first part of the latin name. All species within that genus keep that
name. Therefore all living organisms have a latin name, e.g. the human species Homo sapiens sapiens.
On the picture to the left, a taxonomic tree (because of the many branches) is depicted that shows an
overview of all the known plant families today.
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