The binomial system of naming and categorizing organisms was developed
by Carlos Linnaeus.

Binomial means Two Names (Genus & specific epithet)

Local Examples

Each Species was given a Genus designation and a specific epithet. This is analogous to the Noun-Adjective relationship, like Webbius freckleus which means Webb with freckles, or Eatus   rodiusspeedius which means "eats roadrunners".

Latin was adopted as the official language for identifying plants because it was

1. widely known by educated Europeans and was

2. unlikely to change because it was not in
   common parlance.

3. the spelling (and meaning) of Latin words and phrases would not change over time.

1. 

I did not fully appreciate this until I explored a book on the wildflowers of Japan. The text was in Japanese (surprise, surprise) and was incomprehensible to me. However, each species was identified by its Latin Name which I could recognize or look up.

Scientific names are italicized or underlined.

Each binomial is accompanied by an "Authority" which identifies the person who applied a name to a particular organism.

This is abbreviated when the authority is well known, like Linnaeus. An L. after a binomial indicates that Linnaeus was the authority.

This is important when scientists want to repeat the work of others, or track down the names which have been used to designate a species. As you can imagine, individual species have been given different names by people working in different parts of the world, over a long time-span.

The authority is not generally used except in cases like scientific papers and herbarium specimens where this is essential.

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