Question

The scientific name of mango is written as Mangifera Indica L. What is the significance of the letter ‘L’?

Answer 1

Universal rules of nomenclature given by Carolus Linnaeus are as follows:

1. Biological names are generally in Latin and written in italics.
2. They are latinised or derived from Latin irrespective of their origin.
3. The first word in a biological name represents the genus while the second component denotes the specific epithet.
4. Both the words in a biological name, when handwritten, are separately underlined or printed in italics to indicate their Latin origin.
5. The first word denoting the genus starts with a capital letter while the specific epithet starts with a small letter.
6. The name of the author appears after the specific epithet, i.e., at the end of the biological name, and is written in an abbreviated form.
7. Therefore, L depicts the name of the author i.e. Carolus Linnaeus or Linn.