You know how sometimes you don’t know what to get someone for their birthday, so you’re like, "Hey, I bought you your very own star off the Internet! It’s got your name on it! And here’s a cheapie certificate that says so!" And they’re probably like, "Thanks, loser. Next time just get me a gift card at Crate & Barrel." But our very own green ‘n’ leafy subspecies, and on this very planet? That we could go for.
So how jealous are we of Green Day? Thanks to Swiss botanist Dr. Jason R. Grant, the onetime gutterpunks turned international rock stars have been immortalized with their very own plant, as just announced in the most recent issue of Harvard Papers in Botany. Fitting, actually, given the ecological bent of Billie Joe Armstrong and Co., not to mention the reported reference to a certain, um, herb, in the band’s own name. And here’s what the good doctor and his team had to say about the plant’s not-exactly-catchy-but-still-heartfelt Latin name, Macrocarpaea dies-viridis: "Etymology: from the Latin ‘dies,’ day, and ‘viridis,’ green, for the American punk-rock music group Green Day, whose music we listened to, especially while driving to localities throughout Ecuador during our 2006 expedition."
So, dear readers, who else deserves a tribute? Should Nickelback get their own collectable coin? Does Amy Winehouse merit her own Chablis? Actually judging by songs like "Rehab," I think that would be called enabling… but you get the gist.
Green Day got their own plant. That’s fine.
What I want is a new Green Day CD!!
I don’t think I’d dig Nickelback getting their own coin, but Johnny Cash should have his face on a hundred dollar bill.
That’s cool, but not as cool as Mark Knopfler getting a dinosaur named after him (Masiakasaurus knopfleri).
Plus, I think there’s a whole family of plant genes named after Simpsons characters.
Nickelback SHOULD get their own coin, AND Johnny Cash should be on some paper money! How cool would that be! I’d buy them both!!
Nickelback deserves nothing.
Green Day! The best band on the planet. They even make plants better. (I know it doesn’t make sense but I’m too tired & stupid to think of something clever.)