Adansonia

Main Entry: Ad·an·so·nia
Pronunciation: "ad-^&n-'sO-nE-&, "ad-"an-, -ny&
Function: noun
: a genus of trees (familyBombacaceae) having palmately divided leaves, white pendent flowers, and capsular fruits —see BAOBAB
Adanáson, /o-däⁿ-sOⁿ, 'ad-^&n-s&n/ Michel (1727–1806), French naturalist. Adanson played a major, although unrecognized, role inintroducing modern statistical methods into systematic botany. In 1763–64 he published Familles des plantes in which he proposed a system of plant classification and nomenclature based onmany characters instead of a few selected ones. Although the system enjoyed a period of usage, it was superseded by the Linnaean system.