Lionel Messi has endangered plant species named after him

Lionel Messi retired from international football this month after Argentina’s 3-0 win over Benin earlier this month. | Photo Credit: AP

Lionel Messi now has a newly discovered plant species named after him, in a move to honour his contributions to Argentinian football. An academic study has been published on this distinctive new plant species endemic to the Andes mountain range of central and southern Peru.

That plant species has been named after the 39-year-old former Argentina international. The species, which has also been classified as endangered, has been named Salvia messii after the iconic football player.

The international rules of botanical nomenclature in Latin was applied to the naming process, meaning the letter ‘i’ was added to the end of the honouree’s surname to indicate ownership.

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When the name is translated, the meaning comes out as ‘Messi’s plant’.

The Salvia messii plant belongs to the mint family and is said to possess qualities of extreme adaptability allowing it to survive on rocky and arid slopes in a mountain range. The classification of ‘endangered’ stems from the impacts of climate change and forest fires.

The research into the discovery, and decision over the species name, was led by Paul Gonzales, of the Natural History Museum of the National University of San Marco, Argentinian researcher Rolando Uria, and biologist Jean Capcha-Ramos, from Huarango Nature.

Messi retired from international football this month after Argentina’s 3-0 win over Benin earlier this month. He guided the Albiceleste to three FIFA World Cups, and won one of them, in 2022 in Qatar.