Of Carl Linnaeus, Swedish Royalty and More in Mainau

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Mainau is a small island on Lake Constance, pretty close to the German city of Constance, and just a step away from the Swiss border. It is known as "the flower island" because of... well, flowers: according to Wikipedia, there are about 30,000 rose bushes and 20,000 dahlias on the island, along with many other flowers, an arboretum, and a butterfly house. I had been there once in winter (around Carnival time, which is also very nice in the area), but nothing compares to a visit in summer, when the flowers are in full bloom, as the photos below show.

Some sights of Mainau.

One very interesting thing to see in Mainau is a Horologium florae or floral clock. This isn't a clock shape made of flowers, of which there are many in parks around the world (among them one in Geneva), but rather an idea developed by Carolus Linnaeus, or Carl von Linné. This Swedish scientist (1707 - 1778) is known as the father of the binomial nomenclature, which is used to classify animals and plants by giving them a scientific name usually composed of two Latin words (genus and species). He is the reason why many botanical names have an L. after them: it means that Linnaeus himself was the author of the name. 

Linnaeus' floral clock, developed in 1748, classified 43 plant species according to the time of the day when their flowers open and close. Although the clock apparently isn't very precise, and its execution seems to be a bit difficult (you have to find local flowers that open and close regularly at exact times), it is nevertheless an interesting and beautiful idea, and it was nice to see it live in Mainau (before that, I had only seen illustrations such as the one shown here), even though it wasn't easy to read the time from it. 

The floral clock in Mainau

There is another fascinating thing about Linnaeus that I learned in Mainau: at his time, it wasn't common for people in his region to have last names. Rather, they would use the patronymic system, where a child would take his father's name instead. When Carl's father, Nils Ingemarsson (whose father was called, of course, Ingemar) went to university, he had to give a last name to register, so he invented Linnæus as his new family name, which was then the last name given to his children (instead of Nilsson, as it should have been according to the patronymic system). The reason why Nils chose the name Linnaeus was in honor of a giant linden tree that stood on the family property. Given that I recently learned and wrote about the amazing linden, I was thrilled to learn this little fact about a man who was so important for botany: it was like closing a little circle. 

To conclude with the Mainau - Sweden - Linden - Linnaeus - Botany connection, another little fact about the island: its owners are German aristocrats, the children of a Lennart Bernadotte, who was a grandson of King Gustaf V of Sweden, great-grandfather of the current king (Lennart B. was also a Duke of Småland, which -I'm embarrassed to admit- I just learned is an actual place in Sweden and not only the day care area at IKEA). And one of the attractions in Mainau is also a giant linden tree, planted in 1862 by the Duke of Baden to honor the birth of his daughter Victoria, who would later marry Gustaf V, thus connecting her family (and Mainau) to Swedish royalty. 

The Viktoria-Linde in Mainau.