Soybean name?

Question

I always see the scientific name of soybean written as Glycine max (L) Merr or Merrill.

What does the "L" stand for?

Who/what is Merrill?

Cheers, TT

Answer 1

L = Linnaeus, Carl. First described and named the plant.

Merrill(Maybe Merr) was/is a botanist who updated and/or moved the plant from the taxon(name box) that Linnaeus had used.

Answer 2

The "L" stands for Linnaeus who was the person who originally gave the plant its name.  At some point in time, the name was changed and Merr or Merril stands for Elmer Drew Merrill, the botanist who was responsible for the change.