Lionel Messi Honoured as Scientists Name Endangered Plant Species After Football Star

Argentine football icon Lionel Messi has been honoured in the scientific world after researchers named a newly identified plant species in Peru Salvia messii.

The plant, classified as endangered, grows in the Andes mountains of central and southern Peru, where climate change and forest fires threaten its natural habitat.

A report by The Athletic noted that the plant’s light blue and white flowers bear a resemblance to the colours of Argentina’s national team jersey.

The discovery was detailed in a research paper published in the October 2026 edition of Phytotaxa, a scientific journal. The study is titled “A remarkable new Salvia (Lamiaceae) from the ecotonal vegetation surrounding the western Andean relict forests of Peru”.

A member of the mint family, Salvia messii can reach heights of about 1.5 metres and grows on dry, rocky mountain slopes between 2,000 and 2,400 metres above sea level.

The research team was led by Paúl Gonzáles from the Natural History Museum of the National University of San Marcos. He worked with Argentine researcher Rolando Uría and Jean Capcha Ramos, a biologist affiliated with Huarango Nature.

The researchers followed established botanical naming conventions in choosing the name Salvia messii. Under these conventions, the suffix “i” is used when naming a species in honour of an individual.

While the naming recognises Messi, the plant’s endangered classification highlights the environmental pressures facing its habitat. Climate change and forest fires remain significant threats to the species’ survival in the Peruvian Andes.

Africans Angle News