Taxonomy

The term taxonomy, from Greek taxis = order and nomos = law, is used in biology to describe a classification scheme, according to internationally defined criteria, for classifying organisms and their relationships to one another.

Taxonomies are of considerable importance for science, as they facilitate the handling of individual cases and, moreover, allow summary statements that can lead to a possible explanation of relationships. See also chemotaxonomy.

One of the most famous taxonomies was developed by the Swedish biologist Carl von Linné. He founded the scientific taxonomy (classification) for botany and biology, which is still used today.