This new year, scientists have a surprise for Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Yes, you indeed read that correctly. In 2022, scientists named a tropical, evergreen tree from Cameroon after the actor. It is a plant species that was new to science at the time. To honor his campaigning efforts to rescue the Ebo forests from logging, the tree then got the name, Uvariopsis DiCaprio.
The tree joins a long number of unusual and magnificent plants named by scientists in the last year.
Martin Cheek of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the United Kingdom, and his colleagues – including researchers from the National Herbarium of Cameroon and the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon – carried out the research. The tree, they claimed, had hitherto been unknown to science and local communities.
“We think he was crucial in helping to stop the logging of the Ebo Forest,” said Dr. Martin Cheek of Kew.
The Uvariopsis DiCaprio tree reaches roughly 4 meters tall. Also, it has distinctive and vivid glossy yellow-green flowers that grow on its trunk for individuals who want to recognize it. The ylang-ylang tree (Cananga odorata), which is native to India, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia, is closely related.
The tree named after Leonardo DiCaprio is also considered severely endangered.