Common linnet

The common linnet (Linaria cannabina) is a small passerine bird of the finch family, Fringillidae. It derives its scientific name from its fondness for hemp and its English name from its liking for seeds of flax, from which linen is made.

Taxonomy

In 1758 Linnaeus included the common linnet in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name, Acanthis cannabina.Acanthis is the classical Latin word for a small unidentified bird mentioned by Aristotle. Acanthis was a woman in Greek mythology who was transformed into a bird. The species name cannabina comes from the Latin for hemp. The common linnet was formerly placed in the genus Carduelis but was moved to the genus Linaria based on a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences.

There are seven recognised subspecies: