In botany, the phrase ordo naturalis, "natural order", was once used for what today is a family. Its origins lie with Linnaeus who used the word when he referred to natural units of plants. It should be noted that in his famous works the Systema Naturae and the Species Plantarum, arranged according to his artificial "Sexual system", Linnaeus used the word "ordo" for an artificial unit: in these works only genera and species (sometimes varieties) were "real" taxa. It is only in his lesser known works that Linnaeus wrote about natural botanical units, at a rank higher than genus. In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is 1) a rank or 2) a taxon in that rank. ... A painting of Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné, and who wrote under the Latinized name Carolus Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish scientist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of taxonomy. ... Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus differentiis, synonymis, locis (system of nature, in three kingdoms of The book was published in Latin. ... Writing the Species Plantarum was one of Carolus Linnaeus two great contributions to the Scientific community. ... A taxon (plural taxa) is an element of a taxonomy, e. ...

In nineteenth century works such as the Prodromus of de Candolle and the Genera Plantarum of Bentham & Hooker, the word ordo did indicate taxa that are now given the rank of family. Contemporary French works used the word "famille" for these same taxa. In the first international Rules of botanical nomenclature of 1906 the word family (familia) was assigned to this rank, while the term "order" (ordo) was reserved for a higher rank, for what in the nineteenth century had often been named a cohors (plural cohortes). An early taxonomic system, the de Candolle system was originally published in : A.P. de Candolle (2nd edition, 1819). ... An early taxonomic system, the Bentham & Hooker system for seed plants was published in : G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker (three volumes, 1862–1883). ... Botanical nomenclature Plants are given formal names, governed by the ICBN. Within the limits set by the ICBN there is a separate set of rules, the ICNCP, for those plants in cultivation that require separate recognition, so-called cultivars. ...

Some plant families retain the name they were given as pre-Linnaean natural groups, recognised by Linnaeus as "natural orders" in his natural classification (e.g. Palmae or Labiatae). Such names are known as descriptive family names. Descriptive botanical names: Art 16 of the ICBN rules that names above the rank of family may be either descriptive or based on the name of an included genus. ...