Linaria is a genus of small passerine birds in the finch family (Fringillidae) that contains the twite and the linnets. The genus name linaria is the Latin for a linen-weaver, from linum, "flax".[2]
The species were formerly included in the genus Carduelis. A molecular phylogenetic study using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences published in 2012 found that the genus was polyphyletic.[3] It was therefore split into monophyletic genera and the twite and the linnets moved to the resurrected genus Linaria.[4] The name had originally been introduced in 1802 by the German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein.[5]