Newfound Plant Named for Music Legend Jimi Hendrix

This lovely, newly found succulent is called Dudleya hendrixii in honor of rock star Jimi Hendrix.

Credit score: Stephen McCabe

Music icon Jimi Hendrix is legendary for his many songs, together with "Purple Haze" and "The Wind Cries Mary," however now he'll even be remembered for a completely totally different motive: Botanists have named a newly found species of uncommon, flowery succulent after him, a brand new research studies.

The plant, named Dudleya hendrixii, is discovered solely in a sliver of Baja California, Mexico, in an space known as the Colonet Peninsula (often called Punta Colonet in Spanish). D. hendrixii is skinny and stalky, and sometimes grows to be about 1 foot (zero.three meters) tall. The plant has succulent leaves and flowers which can be scorching pink and white, stated research co-author Mark Dodero, who found the plant whereas in graduate college at San Diego State College. Dodero now works as a senior biologist at San Diego environmental consulting agency RECON Environmental.

Dodero and research co-author Stephen McCabe, a retired botanist previously on the College of California, Santa Cruz, collectively determined to call the plant in Hendrix's honor. The thought for the identify took root after Dodero realized he was listening to Hendrix's music "Voodoo Youngster" on the very second he discovered the pinkish plant. Hendrix died in 1970 on the age of 27. [In Photos: Plants in Danger of Disappearing]

D. hendrixii is a summer time deciduous, that means it dies in the summertime and regrows within the fall, the researchers stated.

Though D. hendrixii is a brand new addition to the science world, it already wants the assistance of scientists and conservationists. That is as a result of its habitat, which is barely a few acres, is threatened by grazing, farmers, off-road site visitors and housing developments, the researchers stated.

"It is the Mexican equal of an endangered species, though they do not use the identical standards we do in the USA," research co-author Michael Simpson, a plant biologist at San Diego State College, stated in a press release.

Punta Colonet might quickly be house to a serious transport port, which might additional imperil the realm's fragile surroundings, in keeping with the researchers. To be able to shield the newfound species, they're urging Mexican officers and conservation teams to guard D. hendrixii, they stated.

D. hendrixii is hardly the one species identify impressed by music. As an illustration, the damselfly Umma gumma is called for the 1969 Pink Floyd double album "Ummagumma," which is British slang for intercourse, Reside Science reported in Could. As well as, the tarantula Aphonopelma johnnycashiis called for singer and songwriter Johnny Money, as a result of the spider's darkish coloring reminded researchers of Money's head-to-toe black apparel, Reside Science reported in February.

The brand new findings have been revealed within the October situation of the journal Madroño.

Authentic article on Reside Science.

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