The 300th anniversary of the birth of Linnaeus is on 23 May this year. LInnaeus, the scientist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature, is regarded by many as the founder of taxonomy and ecology. The 15 March issue of Nature celebrated the event by a special collection of articles, including News stories looking at the current state of phylogenomics, the politics of the Endangered Species Act and an assessment of the role of amateur taxonomists; and Commentaries on the problem of keeping the Linnaean taxonomic legacy on track despite rapid developments in the life sciences, and on challenges to the way new species names are communicated. An Essay intriguingly suggests that the risqué concepts laid out in Linnaeus’s great work Systema Naturalae may have contributed to the popularity of taxonomy as a hobby. Two scientific research papers complete the collection, which can be purchased as a limited edition reprint.