1836|alt=Medallion showing head of Jussieu Jussieu's system of
plant classification, based on the relative value of their characteristics, served as the basis for natural systems of taxonomy. His system was first published in a paper on
Ranunculaceae in 1773. The following year he developed the concept further in a paper on the arrangement of plants in the Jardin de Roi, based on the work of his uncle Bernard at the
Trianon garden in Versaille. The work dealt primarily with suprafamilial ranks of classification. The following five years were devoted to applying his ideas to the entire plant kingdom, culminating in his epochal work, the
Genera plantarum (1789). In preparing this work he had access to a large number of
herbaria and
botanical gardens. Although at first British and German botanists, firm adherents of the Linnaean system, were wary of what they considered radical ideas emanating from the French revolution, the work soon gained wide acceptance in scientific circles, and was actively promoted by eminent botanists including
Robert Brown and
A. P. de Candolle. In the
Genera plantarum (1789), Jussieu adopted a methodology based on the use of multiple characters to define groups, an idea derived from naturalist
Michel Adanson. This was a significant improvement over the "artificial" system of
Linnaeus, whose most popular work classified plants into classes and orders based on the number of
stamens and
pistils, though Jussieu did keep Linnaeus'
binomial nomenclature. He extended his uncle's ideas about the value of the characteristics of plants. These characteristics were considered to be of unequal value, with some subordinate to others in a hierarchical system. As Jusssieu put it, plant characteristics should be
pesés et non comptés (weighed, not counted), in assigning each to a definite group. The names he gave to his uncle's three major groupings were Acotyledon, Monocotyledon, and Dicotyledon. These were then divided into fifteen classes and one hundred families. The most important features of the
Genera plantarum are the division into groups and the description and circumscription of the 100 families (
ordines naturales). With the resumption of his scientific work at the museum, Jussieu's publications (some 60 memoirs) largely dealt with further elaborating the principles of the
Genera plantarum and more detailed circumscription and description of the families he had named, work that was very much influenced by
Joseph Gärtner. Although he worked on a second edition of
Genera plantarum, all that was published was his
Introductio, posthumously in 1837.
List of selected publications Sources: ; ; • 1770 : • 1773 : • 1774 : • 1784 : • 1789 : • • 1804: • 1810: • 1824: , reprinted from
F. Cuvier, ed.,
Dictionnaire des sciences naturelles, 30: 426–468 (1824) • 1837 :
op. post. ;Recurrent publications: •
Notice historique sur le Museum d’histoire naturelle, in
Annales du Museum d’histoire naturelle, 1 (1802), 1–14; 2 (1803), 1–16; 3 (1804), 1–17; 4 (1804), 1–19; 6 (1805), 1-20; 11 (1808), 1-41 == Awards and memberships ==