South African pays R600,000 to name new plant species in honour of his mom

A recent Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) auction received enthusiastic bids for the right to name a new species of wild flower discovered in South Africa - bidding took place under the steady gaze of Charles Darwin’s portrait at the Linnean Society in London.

The naming of a new species is usually the closely guarded domain of taxonomists‚ yet in an unusual move taxonomist Dr Peter Goldblatt allowed the WWF to auction the naming of the newly discovered flower to raise funds for conservation work.

The hammer fell at £30‚000 (about R600‚000) to a South African bidder who‚ among other things‚ produces wine amidst the fynbos where the new species was discovered.

The delighted winning bidder said that the species name was to be a gift for his mother‚ who will be immortalised in the scientific journals that name the world’s biodiversity.

The new flower‚ which hails from the Cederberg Mountains‚ has conspicuous yellow star-shaped flowers. It belongs to the Ixia genus‚ a beautiful group of plants that has been sought after by collectors and cultivators in Europe since the mid-1700s.

The £30‚000 raised by the auction will go to support the organisation’s conservation work in East and South Africa. - RDM News Wire.

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