Adansonia

Adan·son \ȧ-däⁿ-sōⁿ, ˈad-^ən-sən\ , Michel (1727–1806), French naturalist. Adanson played a major, although unrecognized, role in introducing 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 on many characters instead of a few selected ones. Although the system enjoyed a period of usage, it was superseded by the Linnaean system.