The greenfinch was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under the binomial name Loxia chloris.

[6] A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2012 found that the greenfinches are not closely related to other members of the genus Carduelis.

[7] They have therefore been placed in the resurrected genus Chloris that had originally been introduced by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1800, with the European greenfinch as the type species.

The breeding season lasts from the second half of March until June; fledging takes place in early July.

The eggs are greyish-white, bluish-white or beige with reddish or brownish spots or blotches concentrated at the broader end.

They are fed on insect larvae by both adults during the first days, and later, by a frequently regurgitated yellowish paste made of seeds.

[16] The European greenfinch feeds on a great variety of seeds, berries, fruit, buds, flowers and some arthropods.

The spread of the disease is believed to have been mediated by common chaffinches, as large numbers of the birds breed in northern Europe and winter in Great Britain.