Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
Will Obama like his lichen?
A scientist at the University of California, Riverside has named a newly discovered lichen after President Obama, a gesture he clearly intends as an honor.
Kerry Knudsen, lichen curator at UCR’s Herbarium, says he discovered the hardy orange organism on Santa Rosa Island, off the California coast, and “named it Caloplaca obamae to show my appreciation for the president’s support of science and science education.”
Lichen is a plant-like growth that looks like moss.
Knudsen, an ardent supporter of Obama, says he made his final collections of the presidential lichen, which grows on soil and was almost driven to extinction by cattle ranching on the island during the final weeks of the presidential election.
“Indeed, the final draft (of his scientific paper) was completed on the very day of President Obama’s inauguration,” he said in a release issued by UCR.
